Twenty Four Kisses
by xXxJazzy B. RealxXx
Summary: Black Activist Huey Freeman has never been the type to say 'I love you' or romance the heart of any woman with words, no matter how wordy his conspiracy theories have been throughout the years.
1. Love Life

_Disclaimer: This is an actual story between Jazmine Dubois, Huey and Riley Freeman when they're all much, much older. Some mature content, but it's not porn, believe me, here it goes. I wrote it at thirteen/twelve, LOL._

_**Chapter 1: Love's Life**_

People say it's at a total lost and waste of time to marry the first man you fall for. Destruction and pain awaits you in the near future. But she had never been the type to listen to what others have told her, or warned her of. They said she'd die trying to break him down, for him to accept her emotions she held so dear for him before she even started to like boys. So what made them believe she'd actually listen? He was all that haunted her mind when the abyss aura captivated her. The one thing to look forward to each morning, afternoon, and night. No one understood that even political liberals can fall in love.

_'This heat,'_ she complained mentally._ 'If it continues to be hot like this, I'd rather drop dead…_'

Summer was the worst season of the year down in Woodcrest. She was wearing one of the skimpiest of her clothing; a small tank top that would ride up her belly and a pair of gray workout shorts. Everywhere she went heat seemed to follow her, so to lie there, letting it consume and stifle her body was her pathetic retreat to the endless fight. She drew back her leg, a cramp in her limbs crackling as it earned the attention of her sore moan.

Summer heat was so terrible, so devastating in Woodcrest, you could literally see in the distance the very air itself, juddering drills of heat wavering like millions of outlined invisible schools of fish swimming through the heart-stopping glaze of scorching air in a quest to feed on more victims of the summer day.

"…Urgh…" Jazmine arched her back up against the windowsill. "…What time is it…?"

"Three-thirty." A deep and firm voice replied, bouncing lightly off the walls.

The more or less she moved, the hotter her body seemed to get. It was like having a million ton whale lying on the surface of her chest to keep her from breathing. Out of desperation she jerked forward to sit up, leaving a drenched and dirty brown rumpled spot where she had been. She had been lying there for too long.

Jazmine rubbed her green eyes to adapt to her now blurry vision, shifting from angle to angle like an unfocused camera. Finally she got the clear focus on the silhouetted figure sitting across the couch.

He was just sitting there, calm and still, reading his book with his bare feet crossed over the pillows.

"…How are you not hot…?" The woman with frizzy orange hair asked groggily, her hair in a high ponytail to keep it off her already hot body. "…The city's almost the deserts of Egypt, and you sit there reading a book?"

"I didn't say I wasn't hot." He answered immediately. "…You can't escape the heat, so what better do to than read a book?" his finger slid on the material of the page, slowly turning it to skip to the next section.

Jazmine giggled behind her smile, resting her cheek up against her knee as she looked back at him. "…I guess that's just Huey, isn't it…?"

The young man's dark crimson eyes ran over the top of his book, an eyebrow raised.

This was the outcome of ten year old Huey Freeman. A fine, grown man of his early twenties, still the same afro-wearing political protagonist. His attitude towards politics, civil rights, liberties, society, and reality itself, had not changed one bit. He may have been endorsed more, for he now often acted upon his opinions and factors as a radical activist, but no, he had not changed too dramatically in attitude; still a bit sarcastic, still a bit negative, still overly mature, still a bit Huey.

The heat had gotten to him too, though; his usually buttoned-up white shirt was left open to the exposure of his chest, a fit physique rowed with well-toned blocks of abdominal muscles gleaming in drenched sweat. It wasn't him to leave her longing for him at every second of the day with an open shirt, but it was just too hot to endure clothing such as this.

His navigating wine-colored orbs followed the woman approaching him as she quickly plopped down next to him.

"…There are a lot of things to do besides reading…" she smiled sleepily, leaning into him and tilting his book back towards her. "…Like swimming, going for a walk on the beach," she crawled on top of him, "…Anything but sitting around the heat…"

"If that's the case, then why haven't you done all these things if it's so optional?" He cocked his head back with his eyes narrowed.

Jazmine's eyes flattened. "…Cuz it's too hot to get up and actually do it…"

"Precisely." Automatically, his eyes drew back to his book, holding it up on his right side to keep from her reach of diverting his attention.

Jazmine gave him a gloomy and disappointed look. She sighed in a smile and laid herself down on his chest.

A lovingly, but hot, silence was awoken between the two.

A small chuckle erupted in Jazmine's throat. "…I've loved you ever since I first laid eyes on you, you know…ever since we were ten. But I never knew it until now…" her fingers traced circles on his chest, trailing his sweat. "…You never told me how long you had concealed yourself from me. So just how long did it take for you to see it…?" her eyes fell upon him romantically, automatic happiness surging through her body. "…Huey…" she pulled her body closer up on him, whispering now.

His eyes still didn't stray.

"...Just how long has it been…?" she whispered into his ear, talking about something entirely different as her fingers trailed down the smooth, lumpy paths of his torso. She took the leg of the reading glasses he was wearing between her teeth to slide them off his face, making them appear lopsided.

"…Jazmine…" his eyes slanted in a disapproving glaze. "…Let me read…"

"…You can read later," she kissed his jawbone affectionately, hand pressing into his lower abdomen. A gentle grind slightly disrupted his focus.

He moved uncomfortably against the pillow supporting his head as she continued to tease his will. "…It's too hot…" he muttered between an unleashed moan, his head still turned to the side, reading his book, or trying to when her lips massaged his nape lovingly and then down to his collarbone.

He was right. It was too hot, but the heat between two bodies was the overwhelming arousal that caused her want. It had been months, after all since her crave was last fulfilled.

It was almost everyday she had to do this to him. Torture him with smothered kisses and rubs, all the time when he's trying to concentrate on something. Then again it was his own fault; walking around the heated house with either an unbuttoned shirt or no shirt, pouring water on himself to cool off while she was sitting near? He should be held responsible for the blame.

Hungrily she seized his glistening tan brown lip between hers, cherishing the favor of tenderness until they slipped away in a slobbery department. She continued to taunt his lips to make his head turn to her, and he was determined to not break his concentration. But at the spell of a kiss his will was instantly no more. He abandoned his book and gave into her desire. She ended up falling off of him, and heading directly for the floor, dragging him with her. Surprisingly the thud didn't faze her, just earned a few of her giggles between his endless kisses on the carpet floor of musty heat. Her hands were clutched to his white collar to draw him in deeply as his fist was above her head, his body pressed down on her in the same position as their fall. She couldn't help but laugh between every caress of the lips, even he had seemingly smiled, a satisfied rumble in his throat indicating his approval of her fingers gently stroking the back of his neck, running through his afro in pleasure. Her leg rose up beside his hip as they went on, rocking rhythmically, ignoring the world purposely.

The creak of the front door opening disturbed them.

"Oh for the love of bullsh(t it's only three o'clock!!! Can y'all at least take care of yo' business IN the bedroom like regular people do?!"

Who other than Riley Freeman.

Buff with muscles barely covered by his white tank top, a diamond stud earring in his right ear, baggy black and sagging pants, brown corn rolls with a black do-rag to go with it all. It would be hard for anyone to deny, but Riley was the pretty boy of the family. The ones the girls crowded around or always wanted to chase around town, to do anything to get his attention. Women loved him like a god. Although the streets didn't love him the same. At nine years old, he had already gotten eleven felonies, robbed from people, and tried to fulfill his lifestyle as an all-out thug. He just turned twenty-two last week. God knows where he disappeared to for that entire week.

"You not gon' make this a daily routine, right?" Riley smirked at his brother, thumbing his nose. "You know, like three or six times a day…"

A pillow was roughly targeted at his head.

"Nigga I'm just sayin'!!! I be hearin' little things at night, you know? Beds creakin' and shit, cuz you know, that plank wood above me is real thin, to where I could hear even a cotton ball drop and--"

"Riley, shut up or else I'll spray you with the hose…" Huey growled dangerously, retreating from Jazmine who was still clung to him.

Sadly as it seems, Riley was their 'roommate.' His last apartment had been vandalized by the Picket Fence gang, so out of so-called 'brotherly-love', Huey offered him the lower basement to sleep and eat in.

They were planning to move one day soon, out of Woodcrest for good. He might even take her with him back to where they used to live; Chicago. Washington D.C. maybe? As long as it wasn't Woodcrest, it didn't matter where they went. Too often were they discriminated against for their race, even though Jazmine was mixed between the two, she was dominantly black. Even her skin had gotten a little tanner when she got older, her hair more tamed, but still wild. To Huey, she was beautiful. No matter how messy in the morning she looked, everything about her was beautiful.

"Don't act like y'all don't rememba' what happened at Granddad's funeral last year!!!" Riley shouted.

Huey and Jazmine both flinched, but the threatening glare portrayed in his eyes never seemed to ease, so out of anger he retrieved the remote control and aimed it at his brother's big head. "Just shut up the hell for once, Riley!"

Riley dodged instinctively. "HA! Oh c'mon, bro'!" his leg stretched over them as he sat his rear down on the couch, kicking off his shoes. "It was quite an interesting fiasco, really. You, Jazmine, the chapel…mm-hm. Some rodeo show…shame too, cuz it was at the funeral! What kind of caring grand kid would do THAT at their Grandfather's funeral? It was unholy in a very holy place! Have some respect for God's will! I'm surprised you weren't struck down by LIGHTIN'!" he snickered.

"…What do you care…?" Huey stood up boldly, fists clenched. "You don't believe in God…"

Riley's laughter paused as his eyes narrowed. "…You don't either…"

"Where were you for the past few days?" Huey quickly changed the subject, walking to the kitchen.

"…Places…" Riley murmured.

Huey shut the freezer as he appeared with a glass of ice. "What kind of places…"

"NIGGA I SAID PLACES!!" Riley quickly snapped. "You ain't ma' mama, I ain't gotta listen to yo' every command you tell me to do!"

"…Truthfully, it wouldn't matter either way…"

Riley spat at that, and turned his attention away from Huey and then back to Jazmine. His hard eyes stared at her for a long time, until he finally spoke. "…So," his eyes slanted. "…how is it…?"

"…How's what?" she furrowed her eyebrows as she sat in the chair on the far side of the room.

"…You knooooww," Riley chanted, eyes scanning over her. "…Is he remarkable or boring in bed at 9 o'clock at night…cuz judging by today, I know y'all like to be doin' it early--AYE MAN!"

Before he could fill her head up with another gruesome summary of their love life, he was quickly yanked back by the jerk of Huey's grip around his collar.

"Okay, I think it's time you WENT somewhere," he shoved him roughly in front of the door. "Here," he took a few dollar bills from out of his wallet. "Go buy yourself somethin' pretty, take all day if you have to, disappear for a month, we don't care, just don't come back here unless it's IMPORTANT!" he shoved Riley out of the front door.

"OH HELL TO THE NAW!"

The door was quickly slammed in his face.

"YOU LIL' BTCH OPEN UP DIS DOOR, MAN! JAGGET EDGE IS LOOKIN' FO' ME, MAN! IF HE FIND ME MY A$$ IS GON' BE SWISS CHEESE!!" Riley banged on the wood, begging for his brother to let him in. A thud was heard; his foot kicking the door. "LET ME IN OR ELSE I'LL BLOW THIS HOUSE DOWN!!"

"Oh yeah, that's right," Huey swung the door back open, snatching the keys that dangled out of Riley's pocket on a cheap chain. "I need these just in case you try to get back inside. Bye," carelessly he shut the door on his face once more.

He turned to Jazmine, seeing her now sitting on the couch with her legs crossed, wearing his reading glasses with eyes glued to his book. Negative sarcasm marked his face. He crawled over her, kissing her forehead sweetly. "…There are a lot of things to do besides reading…" he mocked as he saw her smile up under him. "…A lot of other things…"

"This book is pretty interesting," Jazmine grinned under his shadow. "…Where'd you get it…?"

Huey's lips turned into a small, childish pout, tilting the book back. "…Don't pretend to be interested in something you're not…"

"Oh, but I am!" Jazmine's emerald green eyes, the ones he loved, glowed with starry lights. "It talks all about marriage, or how to proposal to a girl, and then…#8221;HEY!" she pouted when he snatched the book out of his hands.

Quickly Huey got up and slammed the book shut, stashing it away.

"Huey, I was reading that!" She crossed her arms over her chest, eyes narrowed in boredom.

"Find something else to read," he said stiffly, heading for the kitchen and picking up his glass of crushed ice.

Jazmine only sighed, huffing up a strand of her hair in her face. "…You never let me read your books…or see any of your belongings. It's like I'm forbidden to be open to your world. It really gets agitating sometimes..." she stopped in mid-sentence when she felt her mouth suddenly become dry.

A few crushed cubes of ice held in his palm over his face slowly slid it's cold trail down his caramel-colored face, with his head titled back and eyes closed, making their dissolving trails down the gleaming sweatiness of his bronzed chest, his thin white unbuttoned shirt's sleeve sliding off his shoulder to reveal the muscle of his bicep. He was truly drenched in sweat.

She gulped silently, blushing at the same time.

One word.

Torture.

"Ahhh…" he groaned heatedly. "…It's too hot...way too hot to be lying around the house…" he cracked one eye open to see Jazmine's face lit up with dark red as she struggled not to look at him.

"Yeah…you're fine…---I mean right…I-I think I'm gonna go take a shower." Jazmine jumped up from her seat as the weight shifted back. She rushed to the bathroom, taking a towel and a few clothes with her. He drove her insane just by looking at her, let alone walking around the house like THAT? She needed to cool off from the heat… and him. A shower would do it. Join, if he wanted.

Huey just stared after her, not saying a word. His eyelids fell. He set his glass down with a hefty sigh, his head hanging. Gradually his fingers reached down in the pocket of his shirt, fondling with some type of small box.

It wasn't him to say the words, _'I love you'_ every second she was wrapped up in his arms. But it didn't mean he denied it. He never denied any of it. He wasn't a child anymore. He wasn't afraid to let her see his weak side. She already knew, and he knew too, that nothing came closer to his heart than her. It was meant quite literally, because nothing ever did. She was the only thing he could and would ever smile for. She knew this all too well. And he wanted to confirm it to her again, and this time with all his heart, but not with words. No, something else…something special.

They had been together since they were sixteen, and not once had he told her 'I love you' sincerely in her ear when he had his arms around her waist under the stars, or the blue sky, or anywhere else. He had never said it in all that time, which caused them to break off at age nineteen part ways. Three years later was the time of Granddad's death, a stroke attack. The funeral was set for a certain date. Before that time Huey had already been miserable, staggeringly miserable. He had become a professor of discussions of politics and history at a Universal College. But no one ever gossiped about how big or ludicrous his afro was, or how handsome he had appeared when he passed by giggling and whispering girls, no, when people saw him in the halls or on campus, he'd be referred to as, 'you know, Professor Freeman; the one who never smiles and looks so angry.' It was the truth, he never did smile, not even a small smirk would imprint on his face. He had a lot on his mind before Granddad's funeral, and his family back in Woodcrest wasn't one of them at the most. But when the news did arrive to his office, his direction was to fly out to Woodcrest again, to the place he hated more than President Bush. Could you believe that old hoot was still president? _'Cheater of the electoral process…'_ his mind would murmur.

And that's when he saw her again. Both twenty-three, they were standing in each other's presence. They had a short conversation, and the whole while through, Huey still remained with his 'professor face' on. There was even a moment during the speeches of Granddad's old friends when she had dared to ask him something she couldn't prolong, and he hushed her sharply, angrily, just making her feel more wronged inside to bottle such emotion up. But when it all boiled down to it, he couldn't stay mad at Jazmine. She was too sweet, too delicate for him to hate. He would never hate her. The entire time all he could think about was her, some thoughts weren't loving ones, some were angry, but it was his Grandfather's funeral for Christ's sake. He shouldn't be thinking about the past relations between them, let alone her. But he was. Jazmine took him to the back of the funeral home as the pastor continued, Riley nudging him before he went and slipped him a small wrapper. The two talked on about the old times, and some voices rose, until the conclusion was collided with the truth; how he loved her. A mere three words was all he whispered in her ear heatedly, his firm and bold arms cornering her to the wall. That's all it took to ignite their passion again. That's what the fuss was all about with Riley this afternoon; because they made love, right there behind the funeral doors. That was the first time they ever touched, had ever longed so passionately to touch, and the last time they ever dared to.

"…We've been through everything…" Huey said under his breath, eyes hard and strange.

He believed for love to be real, it had to hurt. It had to hurt dreadfully. And it did hurt, but that had passed. So they've been through it all. So why not? 'Go for it…' he would encourage himself. But he had been 'encouraging' himself for a month now.

"DON'T YOU EVER PULL SOME SHT LIKE DAT AGAIN, HUEY!!"

Huey was knocked out of his thoughts as he spun around, just to see Riley climbing through an opened window, full of bruises and dirt. He was just about to throw him right back out that window, until he suddenly felt defeat and shook his head. There was no explaining or stopping his brother for doing what he wanted. So let him do it.

"DAMN! I ALMOST BROKE MY NECK OUT THERE!!!" Riley complained as he crashed to the floor in a, "OW!"

Huey just watched in boredom with his eyes flat and his cheek in his palm as he sat on the couch. "Did you get shot yet?"

"WHA?! Oh yea' that's just REEEALL FUNNY, HUEY! DON'T EVEN CARE ABOUT YO' BROTHA', HUH? THAT'S MESSED UP!"

"Then let me restate it a little more with concern…did you get shot AT yet?"

"Go to hell…" he grumbled between his teeth, crawling towards the kitchen to grab a glass and get some water from the faucet.

Huey shut his eyes with his usual disgruntled face as he listened intently to the water running, his hand still his pocket.

Riley gulped down his water in a single swallow, wiping his mouth with his arm. He reached for the dishwasher towel on the table, throwing it over him to clean the dirt off his face. As he made his way back to the living room, he suddenly paused when his eyes fell upon his brother. "What's wrong wit 'chu? You look more bummed than usual…" he 'Ooooh'-ed when he noticed the small rattling nose coming from the hand in his pocket. "…Aye…" he called softly. "…You ask her yet…?"

Huey's burgundy brown eyes flung open, staring off to space. "Does it LOOK like I've asked her yet…?"

"Psh, excuse me for actually carin' about yo' life." He put his hands on his hips. "If you need some tips about women you might as well come ta' me. I know ALL about women." He pressed a thumb into his chest proudly.

"…Riley…" Huey smirked. "…I don't want a list of ten ways on how to please a woman in bed…"

Riley flared up his nose and snorted. "…Fine, be the lonely bastard you are then. I was just askin' for JAZMINE'S sake. I kinda feel bad for her…"

At this, Huey raised his head. "…Why…?"

"Cuz she's stuck wit 'chu…"

Huey rolled his eyes at his brother's devious remarks. "…What do you know about us? You've never been in love before…"

"I know y'all be bumping the bedroom 24.7." he kneeled down in front of the fridge. "And love? Psh," he popped open a can of beer. "Since when did YOU ever know a 'ding about love? And that ain't true! I have too been in love!" he grunted. "…Once…" his voice fell lowly.

"One, we never bump anything at night, two--"

"Oh, yea' that's right, y'all like it early in the day time when people ain't sleep yet."

"TWO," his voice rose. "You know it's been like that ever since we were little…she was the first girl I wanted, before I even started to like girls…it's real, alright?"

"Whatever, nigga..." Riley murmured as he gulped down his beer. "…All I'm sayin' is, ask her, befo' she realizes what a punk you are, you know?"

"You're the punk of this family."

"Watch it, JACKSON FIVE COMBINED!"

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_Yes, there will be violence, guns, etc, BIG TIME, since Riley's name is all over the streets, you know? TEHEHE, but I guarantee this, PEOPLE WILL GET HURT, SHOT AND JUST SOMEBODY MIGHT DIE. Don't worry, it won't be some crummy, meaningless, stupid fic...promise. I'm not trying to make it like one of THOSE stories._


	2. Affection Will Always Remain an Issue

_**Chapter 2: Affection Will Always Remain an Issue**_

_Disclaimer: Ahem, I did more yes...much 'love' in this one too, but whatever, it all has a point to it in the end._

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The vibration of the ceiling fan's propellers beating against speeding hot winds was all that was heard throughout the rooms of the apartment. It was already nightfall, and yet there was still a musty and fogging heat scorching the air. A single window was left wide open, but all it seemed to be doing was bringing in more heat rather than flushing it out of the house.

Huey remained silent as he continued to read his book again, evidently very intent on its theme. "…So it's got to be…memorable." He muttered to himself. He sat on the bed on top of neatly made covers and quilts, his legs crossed again, his reading glasses on, and the intense look of solemnity on his face.

Apparently he hadn't learned his lesson, for his shirt was still wide open. He was planning to take the entire thing off, cuz the sweat seemed to be dampening his clothes now, but he would prefer it even so.

The door creaked open, causing his eyes to dart over to the entrance of the bedroom.

"…Hey…" Jazmine smiled sweetly at him behind the door, wearing a thin silk nightgown. Her smile faded when she spotted the same book in his hands. "Are you still reading that book?" she flinched lightly when her eyes scanned him down, seeing just how built he truly was. She blushed lightly, her fingers clutching her gown as he sat there in bed, damp chest glistening in a sort of gold shine of wetness like a bronzed god. She'd flee if she could. Wasn't today enough of a punishment? And the day before that? Was it even aware to him that it made him even more desirable and irresistible to yearn for desperately? That was the whole thesis of the word, 'hot.'

"…Scorching, isn't it?" she crawled into bed with him, a smirk everlasting on her face. "…And it's night, yet it's hotter than day…" she turned to his side and rested on his pillow beside him, staring up at him lovingly as his eyes never turned to her. "…Hm…" she smiled. "…What's so interesting about that book, Huey…?"

His eyes suddenly narrowed.

She had no idea, did she?

"…I just need something to read, that's all." He explained flatly in a thick lie. His skin crawled when he felt her nibbling on his ear.

"Well quit it, you're making me lust for you more…" she wrapped her arms around his chest.

"What is it with you?" he scooted away a little, the bed nosily creaking. "You've been all over me lately."

Jazmine frowned at him. "…Huey…look at you. You're like an African God with an afro right now…" her teeth tugged on his earlobe playfully, licking around the rim. "…I can't help it…you've been in my head all day…"

His cheeks blemished with pink under his frown when she moved to kiss his nape. "…It's been a few months…and you're already driven crazy…shouldn't I be the one going insane for desire?"

"I don't know," she drew back from him. "…Should you be…?" her finger curled around one of his nappy curls in his afro, eyes gentle as she laid her head on his chest, no matter how sweaty he felt. "…Read me a page, Huey…please?"

"About this?!" his eyes suddenly bulged. "But I-I…"

She cocked her head. "…Is there something wrong…?"

"No, I just…" a sigh erupted from him. He quickly shut his book and stretched over for another one. "…I'll read you something else…" his eyes wandered frantically over the different books he had in the cabin table beside the bed, not finding anything good for her.

"…Huey…?"

He paused and turned to look at her. "…Yeah…?"

"…Do you think I'm…I'm unattractive…?" she gave him a worrying look, asking it out of the blue.

"What?!" his reading glasses fell lopsided off his face. "…Wh-What do you mean…?" he stuttered.

"…Remember the funeral? That was the first time we ever did something so passionate…the first time I ever did something so passionate with anyone…it was heaven too…but now you pull away from me constantly, even when I'm not all over you…is it because you're not attracted to me? Am I terribly ugly?" her eyes turned fearful.

Huey stared at her awkwardly. "Jazmine, you're not ugly…you're perfect. And it's not that I' m not attracted you…It's just…a lot has been on my mind lately."

Truth is his mind had been so focus on a certain thing that he had wanted to ask her ever since they had gotten back together, and his thoughts were trembling with fear of her answer. That's what distracted him. He wanted nothing more and nothing less than to be with her in every way he could, but the certificate in the form of a gift to confirm that relationship was throwing him off.

He leaned into her with burgundy eyes so intense and unblinking, it even made her skip a heartbeat. "…I didn't lie to you when I told you I loved you, Jazmine…" he whispered.

She searched his eyes in astonishment, trying to catch a breath. She should be cherishing her life right now to have the most beautiful man on earth in her home. She took in a caught breath and smiled lightly. "…I know you didn't…" her fingers stroked the side of his face, her smile widening. "…I guess I was just being silly and insecure...sorry, Huey. I've been acting like a real ditz lately…" she laughed. "Alright, read me something!" she begged. "Please, anything! A love story! A novel! The Constitution! I don't care! Just read to me!…Oh! Read me the book you were reading before!"

Huey sighed when she gave him her big starry eyes, and reached out for the book, opening it up to a certain page. "…I don't think I should…I mean…you…you wouldn't be interested if I read it to you."

"…Then what do you want to do…?" she laid her head on him, her hand massaging his belly and skimming over his navel, sending him nervous chills.

"Al-Alright, fine…I'll read you a Romeo and Juliet play instead…" it was only to keep her occupied. But as he began reading a few minutes later, he was automatically disturbed by her trailing kisses down his throat. "…Ugh…" he groaned. "…What good is it reading to you if you're not even going to listen." For a moment he couldn't deny it drew his attention to pleasure.

"…I'm sorry…" her voice apologetic, as she moved to his sweaty chest built in with muscles. "…But you really need to start wearing a shirt…"

He lifted an eyebrow as she climbed over him, massaging his lips with hers ever so lovingly. "…I wish you were always here…" she whispered, gradually pulling his open shirt off his shoulders, her fingers sliding over his back, which was just as humidly moist. "…But it's the beginning of a summer vacation…so I should be grateful that I even have you here with me all the time to myself…" she wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her face into his shoulder, sitting on top of him. "…I missed you a lot, you know…when you're away all the time. That's why I'm making a fool of myself right now."

"I know…" Huey smiled, his hand rubbing her back in a slow massage. "…I missed you too…"

Jazmine smiled back and caressed the back of his neck, retreating from his shoulder. "…I love you, Huey Freeman…but you already knew that a looooong time ago, right?" she said in a tired, wild daze, mostly because of the heat. She kissed him passionately, his own participation submerging it into something more.

Huey smiled through their romantic kisses, fulfilling her desire, partially anyway. She giggled when he kissed her forehead in a sweet act of cuddly love. He flipped her over, pinning her wrists to the bed as he crawled on top of her. "…We should do something…" he smiled, lips caressing her nape and then under her jaw.

"…Aren't we already...?" she moaned delightfully.

"I mean go somewhere…somewhere nice."

"Like where…?"

"Anywhere…to the movies…out to dinner." He kissed her lips wetly "…I want to do something tonight…something that's not in the house."

She sighed happily and wrapped her arms around his neck when he released her, "…But I want to do this with you tonight……Please…? We never do anything like this…" she continued to dissolve their damp kisses in fiery infatuation.

"…We can do this when we get back…" he whispered when she paused to look up into his eyes.

"WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! HOL' UP! HOL' UP!"

They immediately broke off with the smack of the lips.

"What time is it?" came the suspicious voice of Riley Freeman, checking his watch as he stood at the opened bedroom door. "…NINE O'CLOCK?! Just in time for y'all to do the nasty, huh? Y'all some freak-ka-leeks!"

"Riley, what the hell do you want now?" Huey asked in a temper, Jazmine with her legs wrapped around his waist.

"I need the keys to the house. I'm goin' out for a lil' minute." He motioned for the keys to be handed to him, "Keys, yo'."

Huey took the golden entrances to the front door from out of his pocket and tossed them to Riley.

"Thanks, man." He grinned. "…Hope y'all have fun bumpin' it tonight. Just don't be too loud when I get back!" he left the room singing a song by Nelly, "_It's gettin' hot in here, so hot! So take off all yo' clothes! I am gettin' so hot, I will take my clothes off_!" he sang in a high-pitched chorus.

Huey shook his head and climbed off of his lover. "…I hope he's not going out to start a race car shooting massacre down the street again…I'm not trying to bail him out." He turned to Jazmine with a small smirk. "So what'll it be? The movies or dinner?"

"BOTH!" Jazmine giggled as she hugged him happily. "And we can stay up late! Yay!"

_**----Downtown----**_

"YO, RILEY! What up, dog!" a hooded man from the sidewalk with his hand up in the air walked away from the crowded area of men. "What's poppin', baby! What's good, what's good." the shadowed man did a hand lock with him, bumping shoulders as a sign of greeting.

"Yea', what's up Kanye." Riley greeted, grinning widely with a tooth pick in his mouth, his own black hood covering over his head. "Aye," his head bobbed in the direction across the street. "…Who are they…?"

"Naw, naw, man, just some of ma' boys."

The group of men eyed him, some glaring.

" Don't worry, they coo', they coo'." His friend held out his hand as if expecting something to be in it by now. "…You got ma' money…?"

"Yea', I got it, I got it." He exchanged a few dollar bills with him, ever so often looking down the streets left and right. "You hear anythin' about Edge?"

"Jagget Edge?" he wiped his finger under his nose in and sniffed. "Yea', you know that nigga lookin' fo' you right? He wants that crystal diamond you stole from him last week, remember? The one you snatched up after the deal you made wit him to help rob the Woodcrest bank. He comin' after you, dog. I think he serious this time, too."

"Psh," Riley commented sarcastically, looking off to the side carelessly. "Bullsht…"

"Naw, I ain't playin' wit you." Kanye's face wrinkled up in seriousness. "You know how he rolls, man. All them guns and shit, he's gon' shoot yo ass up if you don't take that shit seriously. Just watch 'cha back, a'ight homie? I see you. Keep it real, 5 cent." He shoulder bumped him again, holding up two fingers in a peace sign as he stepped away backwards.

"Yea'…I'll do that." Riley's light brown eyes examined the steamy alley down the street. "…Aye, aye, hol' up! KANYE!"

Kanye turned around before he ran back across the street, holding up his pants. "WHAT BTCH!?" jhe threw his hands up in the air.

An indecent smirk danced upon his lips. "You got 'cho car?"

**_---- 1:00AM -----_**

The sound of rattling keys in the darkness echoed in the apartment hall as the door flung open, darkness portraying the only light.

"Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me! Kiss me!" a happy plea echoed between laughter in the blackness.

A bump and multiple things rattling all at once tuned life in the quiet household.

_("More Than A Woman" by Aaliyah, I LOVE THIS SONG! THE BEAT IS SO DOPE! I took out most of the song though cuz it was too long for this scene, but i had to put it in, it's just so awesome)_

_/Passion, instant  
Sweat me, feel me  
Cupid's shot me  
My heartbeat's racing  
Tempt me, drive me  
Feels so exiting  
Thought of highly  
It's yours entirely/_

The movie they happened to see was, "Inside Man," something Huey had wanted to check out since it first appeared on previews, but at the same time Jazmine wanted to see "Tristan and Isolde." He wasn't one for romance movies, so he made a hushed and whispered deal with her. After their movie they did go out for dinner, walked around the streets a bit, hand in hand or arm in arm, exchanged innocent kisses or pecks under a streetlamp, and came back home very, very late. And now was the time his end of the bargain had to be paid.

He kissed her like she wanted when he had suddenly backed her up against the refrigerator violently, grinding steadily as the objects of cereal boxes and household appliances shook on top of it, food inside the fridge rattling and clanging with every frequent body motion rocked against it.

_/Midnight grindin'  
Heartrate's climbin'  
You go, I go  
Cause we share pillows/_

Her hands reached for his belt, to remove the object that kept him from her for so long. This was the entire concept of the meaning 'love' to her ever since that day of the funeral. She wanted to feel heaven again, and only Huey Freeman could bring the paradise to her.

Another jingling of keys was heard as they paused almost instantly, eyes turning to the door. Jazmine sunk lower in fear in Huey's chest as they waited for the door to burst open.

Riley came through the door, stopping at the entrance as he stared at the two. "Damn…y'all late. O-Oh lemme guess…it's the third time tonight, huh?" he crossed his arms with a sly grin. "Yeah I know how y'all be doin'…"

Huey gave him a death glare, mentally cursing and threatening him with his eyes, and for a first Riley decided to leave them be…for now.

"Aye, y'all mind if I bring ma' gurl in? We just hooked up a couple of weeks ago." he asked with permission. "We just gon' be down in the basement…"

Huey still didn't say anything. The look on his face said it all.

"Alright, I take dat as a yes…YO' SHAKIRA!" he went back downstairs to get his new girlfriend.

They came back minutes later, Riley with his arm around a black, thin but attractive young girl (a well-educated college student)who clung to his waist. Poor girl. She had been with him for awhile, she was the exact opposite of Riley; sweet, smart, well-behaved, shy, and it was love at first sight…for her. Then again, Riley was on every girl's 'Most Wanted' list.

Once the footsteps heading down to the basement faded, they went back to their romance. Jazmine pounced onto him playfully as the fridge was soon left forgotten, knocking him down over the couch. He switched their positions, hushing her quick breaths of anticipation.

"…I don't want Riley to hear us…" Huey whispered in her ear quietly as he laid her down beneath him over the pillows, showering her skin with fiery but soft, loving kisses.

_/Taste me, feed me  
There's still no separating  
Morning massages  
With new bones in your closet/_

She wasn't allowed to moan and breathe his name as he tortured her with slow pleasure, for if Riley did hear them still in the living room, he'd come barging in with a camera for sure.

Huey ran his fingers down her thighs as she clung to him desperately, though he didn't place his hands under her dress; he found that extremely disrespectful to ever do such a thing to a respectable woman, any woman. Most of the time he was completely unprepared when it came to intimacy, but now he took charge of that preparation, with her permission that is.

_/Constant pleasure  
No scale can measure  
Secret treasures  
Keeps on getting better/_

"...You're positive you want to do this tonight...?" he whispered in eagerness between silent pants, partially nervous himself.

Not that he hadn't done it before, but that day was completely different. There had been no control in presence of that day, between body or mind at all. They just went about it naturally without hestitation or regret, without thinking. Riley was the only person prepared that day anyway, considering the fact that he 'slipped him something' when Jazmine asked Huey to talk with him in the back of the funeral doors. The younger Freeman brother already knew.

_/Do you wanna roll with me?  
We can go to foreign lands  
Your hand in my hand  
Do you wanna ride with me?  
We can be like Bonnie & Clyde  
Be by your side/_

Jazmine closed her mouth and nodded in a, "mm-hm." her arms slid around his neck with her legs around his waist, securing their embrace and giving him an assuring gaze.

/_I'll be more than a lover  
More than a woman  
More than your lover  
I'll be more than another  
More than a woman  
More than another  
(I'll be more) more than your lover  
(more) more than a woman  
(more) more than your lover  
(I'll be more) more than a lover  
(more) more than a woman  
(more) more than another/_

_(End of song)_

Throughout the night he had to muffle her moans as they rocked against the couch so Riley wouldn't hear, but they never got the chance to continue and finally unburden their affection fully, for it just so happens, Riley DID plan to ambush them with his camera: "HE-YA BTCHES!!"

Loud thuds and bangs, and a few painful hollers woke the neighborhood as Huey pounded him into a few walls, throwing him over tables, and punishing him for the intrusion.

To quote the unquoted of a ten year old Huey Freeman, _'Niggas is crazy…'_


	3. Confessions of a Drunk

_Now sorry, no Huey and Jazmine in this chapter. For some reason when I wrote this at thirteen I snuck moments of Riley x Jazmine…WTF IS WRONG WITH ME /faints/ E-Er, anyway, just bear with it and everything, and know I NOW personally think Riley x Jazmine is the most delusional couple in Boondocks history….EUGH._

**Chapter 3: Confessions of a Drunk**

Tick-tock

The hollow sphere on a pendulum of the clock repeated, swinging back and forth, emotion to emotion, interpreting the mood of the apartment.

Jazmine turned and twisted under the covers of the bed, groaning in restlessness. A displeased face wrinkled up on her nose. She opened her eyes, blinking and staring out into the darkness before her.

It was still hot.

Her head turned to look at a sleeping Huey beside her with his back to her. Slowly she crawled out of the bed, the weight noisily creaking as she got up, careful to not wake her lover. She crept out of the bedroom and left the door cracked open slightly.

It was at this time three in the morning, and she was sitting on the couch with a cold bottle of water in her lap. Her eyes stayed to the pitch black screen of the Television box reflecting her image. A gentle sigh came from her voice box.

She was depressed, uncomfortable, and edgy.

"Stupid Riley…" she told the abyss of hot night.

He ruined their night. The one night that would revive what happened a long time ago. It wasn't like Jazmine to be so clingy to have Huey's affection, but the way he made her feel that day, safe, protected, and warm, was what she wanted to feel again. It was the first and last time they did anything, besides tonight.

It was different with Huey. His warmth drove her insane and yet sane inside. His kiss was everything, yet not nearly enough.

It depends on the person who's offering the affection to make the other feel a certain way. It made her feel like life was being reborn again. And he hasn't offered to give her the affection from that day of the funeral since then, secluding tonight. Tonight was only because she ASKED him to, but she shouldn't have to grant him permission to touch, should she? He almost did what she wanted, but it wasn't like at the funeral. What happened at the funeral was an unspoken magic, a matter too special to be forgotten. It wasn't out of lust or for pleasure; it was to show how much he loved her and how much she loved him after all that time of separation.

So, knowing this…did that feeling go away?

She popped the lid of her bottle cap and slowly drank her fill of water. The mulatto began to slunk down in her seat, sighing more dreadfully now. "…What's he hiding…?"

To love someone was the most painful and wonderful thing ever.

"…Huey…what's on your mind so much?" she asked, hoping childishly for the darkness to grant her an answer.

Jazmine gasped in alert and jerked up when she heard a door sealing shut. "Oh…it's you."

Riley stood there in front of her, auburn cornrows frizzed, his eyes weary and droopy, wearing his white tank top and blue boxers while scratching his left buttock.

"…Jazmine…?" he stretched his mouth for a yawn, suddenly seeing double. "Damn, two of y'all… what y'all doin' up here at this time…?"

Jazmine hugged her knees to her chest. "I could ask the same for you."

"I'm just here to get somethin' to drink…I'm thirsty." He staggered over to the fridge, losing his balance a few times and bumping into a few things. "…Aye, do we got any orange juice?"

"Check."

Orange juice. That was Granddad's vitamin C.

"…Urgh…" Riley set the carton back down, rubbing his eyes frantically. "I think I'll settle for some beer instead…damn I'm tired." he grabbed a large bottle and gulped half of the substance down his throat, feeling relieved and floating on a distant cloud somewhere not on earth.

Jazmine looked up at him as she heard his socks sliding and dragging against the carpet floor when he approached her.

"So why you up here?" he jumped over the back of the couch and took a seat beside her with his arm thrown around her, smiling stupidly. "What, you and Huey got tired of bumpin' and humpin'--"

"No!" Jazmine snapped abruptly, brushing his arm off of her. "He's asleep! And I couldn't sleep…that's all." She looked away miserably.

"Problems in tha' sack?" he raised an eyebrow, rubbing his nose.

"…No! Well…I guess that's a disgusting way to put it…" she twiddled with her fingers.

They stayed quiet for a few minutes, until Riley snorted.

"Is she nice?" Jazmine raised her head up to him.

"Who? Shakira? Yea', she's pretty coo'. I actually somewhat like this girl, cuz she ain't a fuckin' HOE. Then again, ALL mah past girlfriends lied ta' me bout bein' sluts an' prostitutes. We met at the bank, though…" he suddenly hiccupped. "Aw man that rhymed…" he hiccupped again, laughing. "…I just made up my firs' rap…"

Jazmine lifted her eyebrows. He was a bit drunk. Just her luck. "The bank you robbed?"

"Yup, yup, yup…" a burp followed.

Jazmine fiddled at little. "…Do you think she's the one…?"

"Psh, hellz to the naw..."

"Then why are you with her?" Jazmine furrowed her eyebrows. "…Urgh, don't tell me, I think I have a hint by that ridiculous smirk on your face."

He grinned with enthusiasm, as if it were something to be proud of. "There a million other fish in the sea for this fine black JAWS to hunt and snatch up, you know?"

"…You're hopeless and sick-minded…" she mumbled, turning away from him. "How do you ever expect to be truly happy and find love if you never settle down with someone you really want…or at least begin to like."

"…I did…or was…but my brother got her first." He hiccupped.

Her head spun around to him, he was now with his head tilting back on the couch headrest, looking up at the ceiling, red still scattered on his face from the waste sitting in his body. He had…a Huey look on his face, in his eyes. She blushed lightly.

"…Don't act like you don't remember." He sounded a bit angry. "I was twelve goin' on thirteen, you know, when I started ta' like girls You weren't that much of an exception to mah hormones of crushes. You were a completely clueless half breed girl who would always hug me, or act like I was your friend or some shit. Think back to the night when I walked all tha' way to yo' house when you moved away, the night Huey finally said how he neva' wanted ta' see you again. You know, when I was still twelve…" his thumb shoved into his left ear, twisting and picking wax.

He stood in the pouring rain with his brown cap shadowing his eyes.

"Riley…what is it?" Jazmine stood outside her door, staring at him under the shelter with big and confused eyes.

"Okay, l-look, I-I know you told me we'll never be, and that I've been playin' you this entire time, but that ain't true! I don't wanna hurt you or nuttin'…" he shouted to his feet, head still bowed. "I just wanted to make sure you're aiight…wit' or wit'out Huey. What he did was f-fucked up, even ta' me. Listen, I jus; wanna let you know…I'm here fo' you like you been 'der fo' ME. I won't ditch you like mah stupid afro-wearin'-ass brother, so don't think I will, c-cuz I won't!" he added quickly.

_/End of Flashback/_

"Damn…I was a mushy lil' shit wasn't I?" he chuckled at himself drunkenly. "I can't believe I came up ta' you and said that. And when Huey and you broke off when y'all were like nineteen or somethin', you came ta' ME, the closet thing ta' my brother you could find, cryin' and shit…I was nice enough to let you in, though. After all, I was still swingin' wit Granddad for a lil' minute."

Jazmine slowly put her hands over her ears, as if, but not really, acting like she was trying to ignore him. "…That was a mistake…I didn't mean it."

"What, when you kissed me?" he snickered.

"…I was vulnerable…and you didn't even stop me…"

"No shit Sherlock, I was still kinda into you…"

"Into me?" she questioned.

"Yeah, I thought chu' were kinda fine. I didn't really like YOU that much."

Jazmine glared at him. "It's all body for you, isn't it?"

"No, i's not…" he whispered to the ceiling, suddenly appearing not as goofy or drunken like before. "Afta' the kiss, I think something happened…Remember? You stayed wit us fo' a few days until you were able to get on your feet again. Most of the time Granddad wasn't there. We didn't do anything while we were there alone…but just from the distance, the way you moved, how you talked, when you smiled, something came ta' me that I never even noticed about you before. You grew UP. You wasn't that damn annoyin' lil' half-breed mutt at ten. You was actually mature and mo' set-straight. You had me feelin' fucked up inside," he laughed. "But I think I…was startin' to understand why my brother was so crazy over you. You know you were all that nigga talked about? Firs' time I ever actually felt somethin' for a girl…something like that. I think it was love or some shit…but whatever the hell it was, it felt pretty deep."

his jade eyes, now the color of Huey's in the darkness, turned to her. "…Huey hasn't been doing what 'chu've wanted lately…huh?"

Jazmine's eyes quickly turned away as he just continued to stare at her in a way that made her feel uncomfortable.

It was a certain affect that alcohol had on its victims. But no person would have the same 'symptoms' as the other, depending on just how much had been consumed.

"…M-Maybe I should get back to bed…" she got up to leave, but a strong, rough hand lunged out and grabbed her wrist. She looked back over her shoulder to be staring fearfully at a serious Riley.

"…You know that I can do those things that my brother can't do…right? The things you want?" his lips silently mouthed in a seductive yet awkwardly slurring whisper. Without any effort, he had pulled her down beside him again, Jazmine disapproving.

"Would you mind letting go of me?" she asked in a cringe as he towered over her against the couch, sinking her in the fabric.

"…I don't get why he doesn't take the time ta' give you what you want…ta' love you all the time…" the whole time he wasn't smiling, but looking extremely solemn and serious with hard eyes the color of his brother's boring into her soft green ones.

"…At least once a night…" his leg slid over her waist to keep her from scooting away or going anywhere. His hand still had a firm grip on her wrist. His head moved in gradually towards her, closing in on her, never blinking or softening the intensity in his irises.

"…R-Riley…" she whimpered.

"What?!" he snapped angrily, wrinkling his nose, as if infuriated to be disturbed in the silence of the moment.

"What are you doing?!" she finally regained self-control, trying to push him away.

"Jus' lemme kiss you." He demanded, pinning her harder.

"Huh?!" she shrieked in a squeaky whisper.

"I said lemme KISS you, damn it."

She wouldn't allow it.

She struggled against his strength, but he was too powerful of a man to be fought against, just causing his grasp to tighten.

He leaned down on her, opening his mouth over hers widely, tongue outstretched to lick over her lips.

Before he could even obtain her in a passionate or drunken kiss, he bit into his bottom lip at the feeling of a sharp and unwanted pain in his weak region. Jazmine had kneed him brutally, causing him to slide off of her in a wild daze, a goofy but painful grin plastered on his face as his eyes rolled to the back of his head, his nose bleeding. He passed out on the very floor in wrenching pain.

Jazmine retreated from the living room and ran back into the bedroom, shutting the door loudly. She hadn't planned to face or talk to him for a long, long time...

---------------

_In reality, I think we all know Riley wouldn't grow up to be a player, but rather one of those incredibly picky hot boys in school who can't be won over so easily by just any average "chick", ehe. He's already got that PICKY personality, man. _

_But I think he was a player in this one because I HAD to make the plot like that._

_But naaw man, that's me and Anjelika Smith's BABEH, lol._


	4. The Jurisdiction of Temptation

Chapter 4: The Jurisdiction of Temptation 

The once glorious landscape that gave Woodcrest its beauty was now a wretched graveyard for flora life's corpses and rigid deadness.

The heat was like a deadly swarm of grasshoppers, the ones that often struck Egypt, eating away at every little bit of life that exchanged oxygen. After the disaster had sprung, the beat of the grasshoppers' wings faded away into the hot summer winds to search for more life to nibble at, leaving the land stripped bare with smoldering temperature.

Jazmine twisted and wriggled in the sheets of the bed, hugging her head to a damp pillow as the screeches of restless birds continued forth like a steaming kettle over a hot stove.

She clenched to pillows to her ears, winching while the sing-song warnings disturbed all of Woodcrest, to forewarn the arrival of the deadly grasshoppers cursed with the rise of heated hotness approaching. Jazmine sighed in irritation, cursing Mother Nature and her servants in her sleep. Her drenched body flipped over on her aching side, heavy eyes with bags beneath coming open ever so slowly, so tiredly. But at the image her vision presented, she had instantly snapped awake. She let out a smothered gasp and jerked up.

The covers beside her were tangled and thrown everywhere carelessly, a rumpled and brown mark soaking damply into the mattress.

"…Huey…?" her small voice echoed throughout the bedroom, the propellers of the ceiling fan buffing warmish winds.

She slowly crawled out of bed, a hot moan escaping her sore throat when she felt the stickiness of moist sweat dampening her entire body, to where nearly a puddle of the humid sweat was left as a sodden mark into the quilted pattern mattress. The hard beats of footsteps dragged across the floor as she made her way to the living room, still in quest to find her love, her Huey. Panic surged through her.

"Huey…?" her call was followed by an unexpected yelp at the sight of her lover's brother.

He was sitting at the dinning room table, wearing the same thing he had on three o'clock this morning, slouched over in a lazy position, loudly crunching down cornflakes in a bowl. His eyes drew to her quiet presence, and the crunching of cereal stopped abruptly.

Silence unfolded between the two.

His eyes slanted as his pudgy cheeks began to slowly sway with every crunch of cornflakes.

"What?!" he shouted, looking like a chipmunk.

Jazmine flinched back and opened her mouth to speak, but he seemed to already answer her question--

"Huey ain't here…" he shut his eyes and went back to his breakfast, spoon clashing with the glass bowl noisily as he continued to dig into his milk and cereal sloppily.

Jazmine just stared at him. She gathered up her courage to walk pass him and into the kitchen. "Do you know where he is at all?"

"Why?" his cunning eyes watched her as she made her travel. "Did he leave you hangin' after morning sex?"

A deep growl rumbled within her throat before she could restrain herself from blurting something inappropriate. "No, Freeman, I woke up and he wasn't there…last time I saw him was three this morning." She opened up the cabinets, pretending to keep herself occupied from his presence.

"Yeeeeah, that reminds me…I woke up on dat floo' dis mornin' and my groin was hurtin' like hell. There's some dried blood stained in the carpet from a nose bleed I had, too. You got any idea what happened yesta' day? Or las' night…last morning…whatever the hell?" every word was muffled by all the food gathered up between his cheeks.

She paused in mid search, and stared roughly into the green tile of the kitchen table. "That's what I've been meaning to ask you myself. So you tell me, Freeman?" she turned around with crossed arms, glare piercing dangerously into his crouched back. "What happened last night…?"

Riley suddenly felt the sharp glare targeting his back, and peered over his shoulder at her with eyes narrower than before. "If I remembered what happened last night I wouldn't be ASKIN' YOU now would I?"

He watched as Jazmine's unforgiving glower faded and converted into a confused expression. "You mean…you really don't remember what happened last night…?"

"NO! WHY YOU GOTTA MAKE A NIGGA REPEAT?!" Riley shouted, spitting up cornflakes and milk in an attempt to bellow at her. "I rememba' havin' a few drinks, and then foolin' around wit Shakira…" his eyes closed in thought as his spoon twirled around between his fingers to spin invisible air. "…and that's it." Riley turned around in his seat fully, looking at her directly after a few minutes of quietness had passed. "…So you gon' tell me or what…?"

Jazmine flinched, cheeks pink, and spun around on her heel to be facing the kitchen sink. "…I-I don't know either…I was only asking because you asked first…" she swallowed nervously, trying to hide her guilt for lying. More sweat trailed down her body, and it wasn't because of the heat. She had become slightly uncomfortable being in the younger Freeman brother's presence, especially without Huey there.

Images of how she kissed his lips haunted her in a terrifying flash. She hung her head like she had been wounded somewhere deep within the chambers of her heart. It was so long ago, something she never even told Huey.

Riley's weary eyes continued to stare up at her, eyeing her down.

Jazmine Dubois had definitely changed from their childhood and teen years. A woman of dignity, with a rather petite physique; small breasts and hips, yet with a curve in her waist.

Even her hair had changed; it was no longer an untamed lion suffocating in its own orange fur, but rather more manageable to where she let it fall over her shoulders. It was still frizzy and always tightly coiled in a large mass, but in an attractive-looking way. The only thing that stayed the same was her eyes. Gorgeousness reflected in her irises that represented kiwis and limes.

He turned back around in his chair and went back to his breakfast in shut eyes. "Hmph…" was all that escaped him.

To be truthful, he honestly didn't expect to be back with them again. It was like in their childhood when they used to walk to school every morning in a small but indifferent triangle; Jazmine gossiping about her stories as she walked beside Huey who wore a dulled face of negativity, and Riley tagging along behind them with his hands in his pockets, trying to figure out why his brother even bothered with the bi-racial girl if he showed no interest in her whatsoever. Huey didn't understand that either. Not until they became older did the oblivious become the obvious.

"…You know," he began, hesitating for an uncertain moment. "…Huey's got it pretty good…" and with that, a smirk of rare meaning had spread across his face.

Jazmine's heart gave one final thud against her ribcage before she felt it stop. Her hollow eyes stared into the kitchen skin with its dishes piled between each other under murky and unclear water. To her, that last sentence summarized the entire concept of what happened last night, or morning.

The same smirk was on his face nevertheless. For some strange reason, it felt good to say it. He didn't know why, but it just did.

Jazmine jumped edgily when she heard the screech of his chair moving backwards against wood section of the floor.

"Well," Riley wandered over to her and dumped his bowl of unfinished breakfast into the sink beside her. "I outta be hittin' the streets…" He glanced at her with his jade-resembled eyes. "…Tell Huey I said good luck…"

She watched as he grabbed a pair of black slacks that were laid out over the couch and slipped them on, along with a long white T-shirt and a silver medallion in the shape of an 'R.'

He fitted on his white cap and twisted the visor around so it could appear backwards on his head. As a grown man, he had that n alluring appearance, but even when he was eight he had a 'thuggin' life' side to him that printed in bold black letters, 'not a baby anymore.' To sum it all up, he was the most gorgeous thing next to his brother, Huey. He was a stud, or so women would say when he walked down the streets of town, whispering and exaggerating how 'handsome' he was.

"Aye…" his voice called softly from the far side of the room.

Jazmine spun around in an inhaled gasp. "…Wh-What…?"

He stared at her, long and hard, eyes never softening. "I'll be back fo' dinner, aiight?" he began fitting into his white sneakers. "So don't start wit' out me." he grinned, his lips reaching up into the corners of his mouth with his eyelids closed upwards in happiness.

She felt flustered. He hadn't smiled at her in a long, long time. Not ever, really. The first time he smiled was when she stayed with him and Granddad, after she thanked him for his gratitude, and this small, reassuring smile had slowly crept on his lips. Last night, or three in the morning, redeemed the past she tried to forget.

"…Y-Yeah…" she smiled back, looking down. "And Riley I was wondering why you—" she winched at the sound of the door slamming shut. Her eyes found the room empty, desolate, and full of solitude. After a few minutes of loneliness, her sigh echoed to confirm its vacant square rooms.

After dumping her single toast into the toaster, she made her way to the bathroom and stood before the body mirror. A finger held down her lower eyelid to check just how tired she had been. She stood upright and ran her fingers through her hair, throwing it up to bounce it properly. She frowned in a childish pout when it just got frizzier.

"…Ugh…I hate the way I look…" she groaned insecurely, letting the whole apartment aware of her lack of confidence. "…So how did I ever get a man like Huey to like it…?"

If she ever included the fact that he had known her practically all his life, she might even get an answer.

Jazmine made her journey from the bathroom and pass the kitchen.

"...Because you've been my first love before I even started to like girls, that's how."

She jumped feet up in the air in a loud shriek, turning to the voice in terror.

There stood Huey Freeman, leaning against the wall as he bit into her toast she had been waiting so eagerly to eat with his passionate auburn eyes staring at her boldly.

Jazmine sucked in a deep breath just to yell it all out, "Where were you?!"

"Running." He answered simply between of a nibble of her only breakfast.

"Running where?!" she set her hands on her hips.

"Around the block, like every morning. I had decided to go weight-lifting too, and then a bit of training at the Dome, that's why I was so late."

Her face had shown disbelief, but not until she carefully studied him did she believe his words truthfully. His black slacks were certainly soaked, along with his—wait…he wasn't wearing a shirt to begin with. Instead, the blue short-sleeved clothing had been worn around his shoulders like a towel, letting his bare chest torture her eyes and burdened emotions that warmed her inside.

She gulped silently.

She struggled not to observe and describe the details of his perfect physique with her wandering eyes. Her fingers gripped the end of her gown, trying to control herself from pouncing onto him and making love to him right then and there, because honestly, she had never seen him with nothing on at all. They didn't strip bare at the funeral; they may have unbuttoned and unzipped a few clothing, loosened a few ties or bows, and exchanged aroused and smothered moans of how beautiful the other looked, though mostly grinding than looking, but that was it. It was a heart-racing and love-filled action, to where everything was mostly groped or felt by, but not actually seen.

"Is something wrong?"

She was suddenly knocked out of her impure daydreams. "Huh? …OH, yes! I'm fine! Really!" she put her hands behind her back, blush out of control.

Huey just gave her a curious and confused glance with lips puckered out in a small pout. His strong muscles and biceps in his arms crossed over his naked chest, shrugging and then taking another bite of her toast. From the running, weight-lifting, and all the training at the Samurai Dome, he was ten-times as sweatier than before, including the add on of hot heat.

Jazmine's eyes tried to stray, but they wouldn't, not even for a second. _'…God he's beautiful…too perfect for words,' _she thought in a fluster as he walked towards the dinning room table and revealed his bare back muscles to her. She hated him for that, for being beautiful. There was an upside and downside to having a gorgeous man in the house.

"I'm sorry I worried you, Jazmine," he told her sincerely before turning around and facing her. "But I thought you'd still be sleeping by now, considering the fact that you just got up…"

Jazmine put her hands on her hips and huffed up her cheeks. She knew she was sweaty and probably a bit musty smelling, but that was just plain cruel. That was just plain…ten year old Huey. "Are you insulting me, Huey Freeman? Trying to redeem old childish habits, huh?"

"No, not at all." He smiled apologetically. "You look just fine this morning, like every other morning."

"Mm-hm…" she replied sarcastically before walking past him and reclaiming her toast from him, finishing it and earning a whiny, "Hey!"

Huey staggered over to the dinning room table to retrieve his daily newspaper, just to be disgusted as it was soaked in white milk. "…Well that's just perfect…" he held it up to let it drip. "Riley was here this morning, wasn't he? Figures…I'll read it anyway…" he mumbled in disappointment of his paper being ruined. One day he'd plan to kick his low-life brother out.

Jazmine's lime orb darted to the corner of her eye to stare at him as she drank her orange juice. Now she could let her eyes describe his remarkable details without him asking her what the problem was.

A perfect and hairless tan chest with six blocks of abdominals built into his stomach, narrow, hallow navel leading the trail down his exotic body lower and lower and past his pelvis. And that's where his slacks stopped her finally. Her eyes now lingered on the flawlessness of his lips, slightly parted to show their tender gleam. She felt like kissing them, and felt stupid automatically. Was she that dependant on his love? That was one of the biggest mistakes to burden upon both individuals in a relationship.

("Baby Boy" by Beyonce, cackle I find this song funny for some reason, but I always managed to get Huey into my head every time it came on And don't trip, I'm not much of a Beyonce fan either.)

**_/Baby boy you stay on my mind  
Fulfill my fantasies  
I think about you all the time  
I see you in my dreams/  
_**  
She suddenly choked on her drink and spat it back up into her glass cup.

"H-Huey…?" she broke the quietness of breaths passing endless time.

"Hm?" he lifted his head up over the newspaper, eyebrow lifted.

"We talked about this yesterday," she turned around and leaned against the toaster table. "so could you please put on a shirt?" she asked him in pleading eyes so he could obey.

Huey's eyes widened. He looked down on his bare chest, and then back up to her. "…Oh…" he tilted his head to the side in confusion and wonder. "Is it that bothering to you…?"

"Mm-hm." She nodded, feeling guilty.

She was struggling. She had to learn self-discipline today, so she wouldn't lose control and be pouncing or prowling him every second of the passing day. She was trying to restrain her control from rising up from beneath and up her spinal cord, triggering the sensors of her brain and causing the jurisdiction that ruled her urges to be overthrown like the corrupted government he often spoke of.

They didn't say anything for the longest of time, but her lover had this intense and intriguing glow that enchanted his russet eyes that would bedazzle any bypassing woman.

**_/Baby boy not a day goes by  
Without my fantasies  
I think about you all the time  
I see you in my dreams/  
_**  
She went back to her breakfast making, until a rough yet gentle hand disturbed her. She gasped lightly to feel his chin brushing past her shoulder as his hot lips tickled sweetened whispers into her eardrum, giving her nerve-racking chills.

"Is that all you're having for breakfast? Is there anything else you have an appetite for?" he leaned against her, pressing her to the table.

**_/Ahh _**

**_ohh,  
My baby's fly, baby ohh  
Yes, nooo,  
hurt me so good, baby ohh/_**

Jazmine caught and held a breath until her face turned blue.

This wasn't Huey, not the one she knew. He had never acted this way before; so dominant and in control of their affection, not since the funeral. Her trembling hands reached for the butter knife to begin smearing butter onto her now cold waffle.

"W-Why do you ask?" The butter knife clashed with the plate noisily all of the sudden. Her sentence ended in a breathless moan as she felt his lips down the back of her nape.

/**_I'm so wrapped up in your love let me go  
Let me breathe  
stay out my fantasies/  
_**  
"I wanted to ask...if you'd forgive me for last night." He whispered gently, his tender lips now massaging hot kisses down the skin of her shoulder, nipping at her flesh ever so often to make her moans more of cries of pleasure. "If it hadn't been for Riley…"

"No, it's okay, really!" she spun around to face him, nervously smiling up at him, but his seizing kiss silenced her prattling with her fingers clutching the back of his afro, to leave her whimpering desperately for his touch when he broke the passionate kiss too soon.

She was determined to teach herself self-control today, that's why she reacted so strangely, and yet he wasn't helping endorse this lesson at all. And he was supposed to be a Professor, at that.

**_/Baby boy you stay on my mind  
Fulfill my fantasies  
I think about you all the time  
I see you in my dreams/_**

"That's not how you feel…you resent last night." Huey lifted her up onto the kitchen table, rattling the plate of waffles and bumping the toaster itself. He took the precious moment to gaze into her eyes longingly, with eyes of a revolutionary fighter, the one who always had a resolution for revolution. "Can I...make it up to you?" he asked, like a child afraid to ask their parent for a cookie or an expensive doll just to receive the most frequent answer, 'no.'

Jazmine sighed, throwing her head back.

There he went again, asking to touch, to make love to.

What happened to the beautiful stranger who whispered seductive lines into her ear so desirably, so passionately? The silhouetted figure that was trailing butterfly kisses down her soft skin, making her stomach boil with different stages of intensity?

**_/Baby boy not a day goes by (by, by, by)  
Without my fantasies  
I think about you all the time  
I see you in my dreams/  
_**  
His pupils protruded, as if he had done something wrong. "Only if you want to that is!" he added in quickly in an urgent message. "…I don't want to pressure you into doing something you don't want…"

Did he become a worry hog? That would be a reasonable but questionable statement. It wasn't that he was afraid to touch and love her the way she wanted, it was because he feared do something she didn't like, something that would drag their relationship into the sand pits like when they were nineteen and split up again, causing the quest to ask her to be his for eternity to be altered.

"Huey…" Jazmine smiled as her body clung to him. "…You don't have to ask…you can do whatever you want…" her wet lips latched onto his earlobe, smiling through the teething grip. "…Do you want to make it up to me…right now…? On this very table…?" her self-control string had been plucked.

**_/Picture us dancing real close  
In a dark, dark corner of a basement party  
Every time I close my eyes  
It's like everyone left but you and me  
In our own little world  
The music is the sun  
The dance floor becomes the sea  
Feels like true paradise to me/  
_**  
A grown man shouldn't be capable of doing this after hearing the words any man would love to hear; blushing. Red had tainted across his flushed cheeks as her moan sent vibrations against his eardrum heatedly, causing his own will to tense. "…I meant tonight…" he whispered. "…I'm going to be busy this afternoon…."

"Then why'd you ask me like you wanted to now…?" she pouted.

"…I wanted to work you up to get a pleasant reaction when I asked…" he explained with his tone somewhat guilty.

"Well, did you?" she asked with her tone somewhat edgy.

He parted from their embrace. "…I hope so."

Jazmine raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. A gradual smile couldn't help but tug on her sweet and beautiful face. She leaned in and planted her love solely on his lips, sealing entirely new warmth.

/**_Baby boy you stay on my mind  
Fulfill my fantasies  
I think about you all the time  
I see you in my dreams  
Baby boy not a day goes by (by, by, by)  
Without my fantasies  
I think about you all the time  
I see you in my dreams/  
_**  
"…You're difficult Huey Freeman, you truly are..." she raised a cold waffle to his face. "...Want some breakfast...?" she smiled innocently.

Huey raised a questionable eyebrow, but encouraged an indecent smirk to spread on his face. "How could I resist? I'm starving after all." he took her lips into his in a greedy snatch, Jazmine giggling as his strong grip embraced her tightly while they shared morning affection on the separate table of the kitchen, causing everything to be dropped or broken carelessly onto the floor.

He straddled out on top of her body and gazed lovingly into her angelic eyes. His fingers twirled her frizzed hair, running through it and over a flushed pink cheek. Again, she couldn't get over his charming wonders. He wouldn't even have to say a word, and yet her heart would be racing like a wild mulatto stallion bucking madly. Even when they were young, she'd get that fuzzed warm patch of feelings inside her stomach. He'd been her crush since ten years of age; she had loved him that long. And now to touch him...is...

**_/Baby boy you stay on my mind  
Baby boy you are so damn fine  
Baby boy won't you be mine  
Baby boy let's conceive an angel/  
_**  
"Jazmine?"

She flinched at the thrill of hearing his voice. "...Yes...?" she whispered.

She saw him smile. He never smiled in their childhood, at least not a sincere one. He always looked so miserable, but he had grown out of that now, at least when he was near her. For he was most beautiful when he smiled. He bent down beside her ear and whispered sweet words of love to warm her fragile heart.

"Hey...H-Huey...?" Jazmine called him from behind his shoulder with her fingers surging through his afro and then sliding along his wet, slick back, eyes in a romantic daydream up at the ceiling as she felt his heart beating against hers. This was enough to drive her crazy.

"Hm?" he replied between a silent moan with his lips to her throat.

**_/Baby boy you stay on my mind  
Baby boy you are so damn fine  
Baby boy won't you be mine  
Baby boy let's conceive an angel/  
_**  
"...Do you think it'll always be this way...?" her arms wrapped around his neck. "...I mean, us...together...all the time." she whispered more sincerely now, but in a crackled tone of voice.

Huey paused and lifted up from her shoulder, eyes staring widely into her dreamy ones. "Why?" he voice was timid. "Are you having doubts?"

Jazmine smiled gently and ran a finger in his afro, kissing the corner of his lips. "I could never have any doubts about you. I can't possibly picture myself with anyone else." her look suddenly turned sullen. "But...are **_you_** having doubts?"

He shook his head wildly, eyes extremely fearful now. "Why?! Do you think I'm having doubts? I'm not having doubts, I would never—" her lips on his stopped him.

"Kiss me." she whispered against them, pressing the thick wetness of her tongue against their tenderness to make him obey.

/**_Baby boy you stay on my mind  
Fulfill my fantasies  
I think about you all the time  
I see you in my dreams/_**

Huey suddenly didn't feel right inside. "Jazmine, I—"

She kissed him again, more passionate and demanding this time with her hand gripping the back of his neck. "...Make it up to me now..." her legs tangled around his waist, attaching her body to his as she arched her back, ready for anything he would bestow upon her.

/**_I'm stepping in hotter this year,  
I'm stepping in hotter this year,  
So don't you fight it,  
So don't you fight it/_**

(End of Song)  
  
He frowned at her in uneasiness. He untangled her grasp around him and retreated from the table, leaving her in her wildest confusion state. He threw his shirt over his shoulder. "I'm not in the mood for it, not now.--I'll be in the shower if you need me." his voice sounded harsh and earth-quaking.

Jazmine furrowed her eyebrows and looked down into her lap, orbs quaking. "...He's having doubts again...just like before." she whispered hoarsely between a broken heart.

_But the next chapter will be kinda funny, some Riley and Jazmine, as Huey struggles with ideas to make the proposal 'memorable.' He'll even go back and visit some old childhood friends to get some advice from. hint hint, oh jeez just take a few guesses of who)_


	5. The Kissing Game

**_Chapter 5: The Kissing Game_**

Jazmine sat at the dinning room table staring into her plate of soggy syrup waffles. She picked at it a little, narrowing her eyes at each particular piece she dove into, sighing and taking a small unwanted bite.

He really frustrated her, he did.

One second he was all over her, whispering love into her ear, romancing her heart to where she wanted him thoroughly, and then another he was flustered and uneasy, deciding he wasn't in the 'mood' to make up their unfulfilled affection from last night. The most difficult person ever existed on earth was Huey Freeman, in so many very ways it was insanely uncountable. Even now, she still couldn't figure him out.

Her green eyes examined the features of her body. She frowned in a childish pout. Was it really because she was unattractive? Too imperfect? Too petite?

There had to be SOMETHING, just something that made him feel a bit shaky to show her his love again. Jazmine bit into her bottom lip and closed her legs, feeling suddenly insecure of her own body. Her fingers slid over her shoulder, grunting when she felt her dry skin. She needed another frequent shower, to clean the sweat and insecurity off her tanned body.

Jazmine stood up from her chair and advanced toward the bathroom door, which had been shut. She yawned and pressed her weight forward against the diamond-resembled knob. Quietly the door screeched open and she managed to slip through. Jazmine reached out blindly for her purple toothbrush, shoving it into her mouth as the handle stuck out with a lump in the side of her cheek. She suddenly opened her half-shut eyes to see the room full of steam with the sound of running water. A darkened figure stood behind its midst. Jazmine's orbs bulged as her mouth fell jaw-slacked to see a rare God with his head tilted back as hot water poured down his face and over relaxed shut eyes, tracing wet trails through his kinky afro, running down a glistening nude chest, down his muscle-toned abdominals, past his navel, past his thighs, lower and lower until a blush had grazed her cheeks when his slacks would usually be there to stop her.

Gulp. "Oh…" she breathed in remarkableness after she had trailed off, toothbrush dropping out of her mouth.

Jazmine gasped and fell backwards against the sink's table when Huey's wine-colored eyes opened between the lines of wet water to find her. A blush of his own earned across his face as his hand lunged out to reach for a towel.

"JAZMINE! WHAT THE HELL!?" he shouted as he turned off the shower's pouring water with the white towel around his waist.

Jazmine stared at him in shock as she struggled to make her way to the door, foot slipping on the rug. "I-I-I'M SORRY!!" she squeaked and shut her eyes tightly, bursting out of the bathroom door and slamming it shut.

She sat behind the couch with her knees hugging her chest as she thought about what her eyes had provided her vision to. "Ah…" she pounded her temples with clenched fists, eyebrows furrowed down on tightly shut eyes in a bright red flush. "I can't believe I forgot he was in there! Oh my god… Huey! He'll hate me forever!" she squealed to herself, hiding her face behind her hands in an uncontrollable blush.

But the image of his body dripping with humidly wet water sent immoral fantasies through her mind. She slapped herself, leaving a red mark on her cheek and cringing at the agony. But for all that was worth it, she couldn't deny the wonders of foreseeing heaven, no matter how intrusive it was. After all the times he walked about with sweat clinging to the tanned skin of his brown chest, to see him with nothing on at all, oh that would be…her being a pervert.

Jazmine screamed into her hands in embarrassment, feeling suddenly so wronged inside. "Oh how could I…?" she whimpered.

She nervously winched when she heard the creak of a door opening and the slam of it closing. Footsteps dragged across the carpet as they traveled to the kitchen.

"Yo, I just forgot somethin' so don't mind me, I'll just be in da…"

Jazmine's eyes slowly looked up to see the owner of the unfinished statement, just to meet the eyes of an utterly confused Riley staring down at her with a lifted eyebrow.

"What chu doin' down there, gurl?" he asked as he leaned over on his knees. "Ain't you supposed to be lookin' fo' Huey?" he held the visor of his cap twisted backwards on his head of cornrows.

"I was…and…and I had found him, too…" Jazmine choked out, suddenly burying her face between her knees. "I'm a horrible, horrible person, Riley…" she mumbled.

"Fo' what?"

"Because I walked in on Huey while he was taking a shower!!!" she clutched the end of her gown now. "Something that I should never ever do! I feel like a pervert for feeling guilty and yet NOT feeling guilty!"

Silence.

Riley bit into his bottom lip as an irresistible grin was being kept behind inside laughter. He suddenly burst out into a million chortles, holding his stomach in the process as Jazmine frowned up at him.

"What?!" she pouted. "Why is it so funny?!"

Riley tried to control himself as he wiped away a lone tear from the churning pain of laughing so hard. "CUZ!!! …Don't y'all USUALLY see EACH OTHER undressed every 24.7 three or six times a day? I mean, y'all did do it at the funeral after all…IN A CHURCH." He fell over in laughter again, this time not being able to control it.

Jazmine's cheeks went pink as she struggled to scold at him, but couldn't find the courage to do so. "Oh, just shut up, okay!" she mumbled between her knees. "It's not right to walk in on someone taking a shower no matter how intimate your relationship with them is! And what if he's mad at me?!"

Riley gave a dull look of disbelief at her words, mouth hanging open with one eyebrow furrowed as if it was bizarre for her to say such things. He shook his head, "Okay, look…" he sat down beside her against the couch's back, Jazmine giving him big green eyes full of an S.O.S. "First of all, NIGGA THAT AIN'T TRUE. You just afraid ta' see the man you want with nuthin' on at all cuz you've never seen him stripped down from top to pants, right? Yet you secretly crave for it. SECOND OF ALL he should be PROUD that his WOMAN got to get a lil' peek of what she'll be handlin'—"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Jazmine threw up her hands to stop his inappropriate sentence. "How do you know I've never seen Huey unclothed before…?" her eyes suddenly turned a wider shade.

Riley paused and just stared at her, dumbfounded. "A-A-Ahem, well…see...MAN!" he suddenly smacked his lips. "THAT'S JACKED UP! WHY YOU GOTTA BE ALL UP IN MY GRILL, MAN?! GIVE A NIGGA SOME SPACE!" he pointed a finger at her in a frown.

"But, Riley…"

"AH-AH!" he pressed his finger against her lips to hush her. "SHHH!"

Jazmine stared into his intense greened eyes, neither blinking as the moment passed.

"Don't be changin' the subject, aiight!?" he told her sternly. "I'ma be the one askin' all da questions, got it?"

Her cheeks went pink to see the look in his eyes so focus and concentrated, a look only Huey would assemble. It caused her to often forget that they were related; two stunningly gorgeous yet antipodal brothers.

She nodded.

Riley retreated from her and sat with his arms crossed. "Now…see…usually when a nigga's girl walks in on him in the shower, she'd automatically join him and they'd be gettin' they freak on, then again only white people do that cuz they be the horniest 24.7"--referring to the movies he's seen.

Jazmine gave him a cross look. "RILEY! Be serious!!" she shouted into his ear as he cringed and clamped a hand over the swollen drum.

"AIIGHT DAMN! YOU AIN'T GOTTA YELL, SHIT!!" he snarled, turning his body around to face her. After a minute of staring he raised an instructing finger. "Now…I'ma ask you some…PERSONAL questions like I said…SO," he leaned into her side close enough to hear her release a timid breath, his lips parted as they mouthed in a snicker into her ear, "…did he have a six pack? How big was his—"

"RILEY!!" she blushed and shoved him away as he converted into another laughing state.

"AIIGHT! AIIGHT I WAS JUST PLAYIN'!! I PROMISE I AIN'T GON' DO IT AGAIN!" he waved his hand around, still laughing at her priceless and horrified expression.

"What are you doing here ANYWAY?!" she glared, arms crossed over her chest now. "You said you'd only be back for dinner!"

Riley flinched at the skeptical tone in her voice, and then got up in a sneer. "Psh, I forgot somethin' that's all…" he walked toward the kitchen with his hands in his pockets, suddenly taking out drawers and dumping out all the utensils inside. "DAMMIT, WHERE THE HELL IS IT?!" he whispered angrily behind gritted teeth as he caused more destruction in the kitchen.

"Your gun's in the bottom cabinet…" Jazmine told him out of the blue, Riley suddenly frozen in the spotlight.

He ducked and opened the cabinet doors, finding his stashed away pistol in the brown bag he left it in this morning. His eyes narrowed suspiciously and quickly diverted their attention to Jazmine who was standing. "How'd YOU know where it was and that I'd be lookin' fo' it…?"

"You've always kept it in there." She blew an upright strand sticking out in front of her face. "Every morning you store it away there just in case you need to make a quick rush out of the house to start your gang wars down the street. I just happened to stumble upon it a few times."

He just stared at her expressionlessly long enough for her to finally feel the hardened eyes on her, and turn her curiosity to him in a simple, "What…?"

He looked away and shook his head, "Nuthin'…" Riley stood up and shoved the weapon down the back of his pants and pulled his shirt down over its exposure.

"You know, you really should get out of the street-thug life, Riley."

He looked up at her in confusion. "Why?" he said in more of an annoyed voice than a questioning one.

Jazmine sat at the table nibbling on a peach. "Because," her emerald eyes glanced over her shoulder at him. "You could get shot, killed, assassinated…"

Riley wrinkled up his nose and put his hands on his hips. "And what do you care if I get killed or not?…Besides I've been shot befo', see?" he lifted up his shirt, revealing to her his bare chest, just as firmly built as Huey's with well-developed six blocks of abdominal muscles and all, to let her see the healed wound just below his ribcage, and two more in his side. Yet there was still a little dried blood darkening the brown bruises where the bullets had pierced deep into his skin. He had gotten these wounds years and years ago, but they were deep enough to leave an eternal gash.

Jazmine looked away in disturbance. "Put your shirt down, Freeman." She frowned in closed eyes but couldn't match her voice with her expression. "I don't want to see that…"

Riley held his own glare against her, and pulled the shirt down over his chest, stuffing a portion down the side of his pants.

"The doctor said you were lucky to even survive those blows…" her voice sounded slightly cracked. "And after they released you, you actually threw a party for getting your first 'shots.'"

"Oh yea' huh? I rememba' dat…and we played Gangstalicious's song, 'I Got Shot?' Yeah, good times, good times…" Riley smiled up at the ceiling in remembrance. "And I sent you an invitation, but you never showed up!" he went back to snarling in crossed arms.

"Damn right I never showed up!" she abruptly jerked up out of her chair, voice in a fit of broken shards. "I was crying the night you got shot! Do you have any idea how torn up me and Huey were?! You were only fourteen!"

He stared at her in slightly widened eyes.

Her death-threatening frown eased up into sad and confused eyes. Jazmine plopped back down in her chair and stared at the wooden table in quietness. "…I even came to your hospital bed when you were asleep and stayed there talking to you until sunrise." She whispered broken-heartedly. "…We really believed you were going to die…or that's what the Doctors had told us…"

If he listened closely, he could hear her sniffling. _'Oh shit'_ he mentally cursed._ '…now she's gonna cry…dammit I HATE when women cry…what the fuck am I supposed to do now?!'_ he never knew what to do or say around crying women. Usually he'd probably pat them on the back, tell them it'll be alright, but then say something to make them cry even more, and that was just if he really cared.

"And then, what if you get shot all over again…" she began with her eyes in a saddened hypnosis. "…they're might not be a miracle to save your life like before…" she bowed her head down, her curly strands of reddish orange hair falling over her face.

"…Yo, Jazmine…uh…" he rubbed the back of his neck. "…I…" he flinched back in surprise when the pat of a tear dampened the dusty table that had fallen behind the hair hiding the profile of her face away.

Automatically the background faded out and reset the scene to a dark room in the color of pale blue from a stream of moonlight peeking through the bedroom window. Jazmine was sitting on a messily made bed with her face in her hands in a flood of tears. Riley just stared at her from across the room, eyes confused and never more confused. A jolt struck him inside and the vision was altered back to their original settings.

He looked around in apprehension, seeing no one in the room but furniture. Automatically he socked himself to convince himself he wasn't going crazy, tossing his head from side to side to wear away the feeling.

He looked back down to Jazmine, who was clenching the fabric of her gown in her fists. He sighed in a whiny but quiet, "Man…" before approaching her.

Riley pulled up a chair noisily and leaned over the table with a shaky hand hesitant to land on her back. "…Hey, c'mon…" he urged her, rather than trying to comfort her. "Stop cryin', man…I mean…I'm here aren't I?" he held his arms out. "I didn't die or nuthin', I'm still here, see? Ol' Riley ain't goin' down dat fast! Promise! No nigga or nigga's gun can stop me from bustin' caps in all they asses! So don't think I'm surrendin' to the bullets just yet!" he grinned proudly. "…Oof!"

His grin changed into a confused yet embarrassed expression when Jazmine suddenly pulled him into a hug; Riley's chin into her shoulder with his arms swaying limply and her own around his back. They stayed like that for some time in the quiet space of the before forlorn air. Riley blinked and stared into the distance behind them as she whispered something muffled beneath the fabric of his shoulder, something he couldn't hear, just able to feel the warmth of her voiced words against him. The only surprising fact was that he actually let her embrace him so closely.

"A-Aye, man…" he blushed when he felt her chest pressed against his as she squeezed him tightly. "…Now c'mon, g-get off me! I ain't no teddy bear aiight, so don't be cuddlin' and shit wit me!" he pulled her off him by the shoulders and stared into her eyes ruthlessly. The look gradually eased up when he saw her cheeks flushed over in delicate pink with tears settled beneath one lime-green eye as she gave him a tiny and nearly unseen smile.

"You made me feel better…" she whispered.

Riley opened his mouth to say something—

The bathroom door suddenly flew open to let out steamy air.

Jazmine and Riley turned their heads to see Huey standing in the doorframe with a white towel wrapped around his waist as the rest of his dripping wet body was left to the open hot air. His eyes narrowed down on Riley with a towel held to his afro to dry his tightly coiled hair.

Riley's lips twitched. A slow, fake, and uneasy grin spread to the corner of his lips. "H-Hey, bro!" he released Jazmine's shoulders as she bowed her head in shame to have still seen Huey in the shower. "W-What's poppin' man," he lifted his hand up high in the air. "…What's…what's happenin'…" he trailed off to see the frown eternally imprinted on Huey's face and suddenly looked at the palm of his hand, soon clearing his throat and shoving it into his pocket. "Yeah, so…I-I be seein' y'all at four o'clock, a'ight? Dinner…yeah…"

The room fell silent with all eyes on him.

"A'ight…Jazmine…Huey…" he gave off a small salute and backed up towards the door, quickly disappearing behind it in a slammed shut.

Again the room was silent.

Huey's eyes darted to Jazmine.

She flinched and looked down with her cheeks the color of a bright five o'clock sunset. She tried to hold her breath as he just kept staring at her from across the room. Jazmine cringed and shut her eyes as if to await a blow when she heard him walking nearer.

"What's wrong…?"

She swallowed a gasp which resulted in a choke when his calm voice caused nervousness to boil inside of her stomach. "H-Huh?"

Jazmine's eyes came open to see his bare and muscular legs, face overthrown in heat as her orbs trailed up his height, past the white towel around his hipbones, past his navel, abs, chest, and finally to a perplexed face. She gulped to see him, eyes suddenly full of wonder and amazement of the witnessing the most beautiful thing in her life. His muscular physique was drenched in soaking wet water; his chest inflating and deflating rhythmically, causing trickles of water to run down his body and trace along the lumpy paths of his "six packed" abs. Her eyes followed the racing of water as they ran down his smooth belly and disappeared beneath the white fabric of the towel. The only thing covering full exposure was that damned towel wrapped around his thighs, just revealing a little hipbone. Her cheeks blemished pink. Mentally she slapped herself. Torture No.3. For heaven's sake he was her demise!

"You seem nervous…" he clarified with the other towel still rubbing through his wet afro, completely and utterly clueless of her reasons for acting so strange.

The grip on the end of her gown seemed to tighten dangerously.

Why? Why did this man have to be the one man with his name engraved on her heart in full bold print letters and grant him the permission to drive her feelings for him crazy? She wouldn't care what he looked like, the name Huey, the soul of Huey, drove her into romantic insanity alone.

"…Jazmine?" his voice was so much gentler all of the sudden.

He bent down in front of her with a confused yet solemn face.

Jazmine took a deep breath and blurted out quickly, "Okay, H-Huey I'm really, really, really, really, really sorry I walked in on you like that especially when you were taking a shower please don't be mad at me I really didn't mean to intrude on you or anything i-it's not like I'm some pervert girlfriend who likes walking in on her boyfriend taking a shower…"

"Whoa, slow down!" he pressed his hand against her soft lips, causing her to freeze on his command. When he felt secure that she wouldn't make another peep, he stared eternally into her eyes and into the core of her soul and let her lips free of his fingers. "Now," he began. "you thought I was angry at you?"

Jazmine closed her mouth and nodded, "mm-hm."

Huey's eyebrows wrinkled upwards in utter confusion. "Why would you think I was angry at you? Because you saw me in the shower?"

"And because you yelled, 'Jazmine, what the hell!' at me!" she defended, feeling like a child that had been caught for misbehaving.

Huey just gave her a deeper expression of bewilderment and remorse. "That was only because I was frighteningly surprised. I wasn't mad at you…traumatized…but not mad. That's too petty to get upset over. I'm not that ill-tempered or inconsiderate…well, not of you that is. It's not like you're a stranger…you're my lover."

"So… it's not bad that I feel guilty for not feeling guilty?" she asked in quaking eyes, as if still hoping for him to accept her wordless apology.

Huey's eyes seemed to glow, the same expression never wearing away. "…Jazmine…" he asked softly and at the same time strongly too. "…Can you see a future with me…?"

Jazmine blushed at the seriousness yet desperate plea in his eyes, something that wasn't often shown in Huey Freeman. How could she not? She loved him in every way imaginable, from those handsome burgundy eyes so radiant and full of prudent guidance to every political-criticized word he spoke of. She told him that she could never picture herself with anyone else but him. So shouldn't the answer automatically be, "…Yes…"

"Then in the future you'd expect to see me more in our sensuality relationship this way without asking permission to feel a certain way towards it, won't you?" he seemed concerned. "There's nothing wrong with it…it's alright…I don't mind if you stumble upon me stripped bare, just…warn me next time."

He continued on about sexuality in a relationship, and some intellectual speech about intimacy in the future, but a long time ago she hadn't been listening.

The moment he said 'it was alright' let her mind know it WAS alright.

As long as it was acceptable to him for her to feel this way, that's all she wanted and needed to know.

Because the feeling she had when she had stumbled upon him, left her emotions lusting for him even more. She could picture herself clinging to him now, and removing that stupid towel from his waist. It was the only way she knew how to love. Their first and last intimate encounter was truly the only time she discovered the meaning of true love all throughout their relationship as children to teen years. Not until then had she felt true love; when they became one soul and one soul only, for then she knew she wanted to become that one soul with just him and no other. She saw it as the only way to unfold emotions that were too strong for words. She wanted to show him, not tell him.

After a moment of staring profoundly into his eyes, she silenced him with a romantic kiss. Her eyelashes rested on her cheeks serenely when he finally returned it, her cheeks a bit flushed over at her vulnerability. She smiled after she released his lips, resting her head against his forehead as she caressed the sides of his neck with both hands. She hummed in warmth. That's all she wanted.

"…Jazmine…" he said in a hint of frustration. "…I wasn't done…" he gave her a disappointed yet childish look.

"…Sorry…" she apologized. "…I didn't mean to interrupt you, but…look at you." Her green eyes opened up to his ruby ones, her hands running down his wet chest. "…You're here before me in nothing but a bath towel…" she smiled. "…and no one's here…"

He read her mind.

"No." Huey gave her a demanding look.

Jazmine frowned at him.

"I already told you I'd be busy this afternoon, and I have a lot to do…" he struggled to maintain his frown as she traced a finger over his lips.

"Hm, A-okay…" she told him in an innocent voice, too innocent to be trusted. "…I'll be good until tonight; I promise to leave you alone until then." she ran her fingers through the back of his afro and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"…You're lying to me…" Huey said in a low grumble with his eyes narrowed sarcastically as her lips were still glued to his forehead.

"Am not!" she pouted when she drew back from him, quite serious in a childlike way.

"Yes you are…" he argued solemnly. "I can't trust you when we're both alone in the apartment…there's no telling what you'll do."

"Huey, our summer just started a few days ago! This is the only time we've ever been together in the house, physically the both of us in the same room, without Riley intruding! Maybe if you would wear an actual shirt more often and not be so irresistible, I might be able to control myself!" she crossed her arms and legs, tossing her head in a sassy, 'hmph.' When it fell quiet, one of her eyes cracked open to see his face, suddenly closing to act mad when she saw him still staring at her.

Huey frowned up at her, an eyebrow now rising. He just stared at her for a minute like that, with his usual Huey Freeman expression.

A sigh. "You're right…"

Jazmine flinched when she felt his forceful hands land on her crossed arms. She looked down him, seeing his eyes concentrated on slowly parting her arms away from her chest, just to give her a glance of his smile.

"We've never been in the apartment alone together…not ever, not until this summer vacation started." He kissed her collarbone. "…Will you forgive me…?" his hands held the sides of her thighs to keep her in place. "…For being a heartless menace to you…?"

Usually he'd leave, or surrender the argument over to her, but never had he apologized. She blushed lightly, still trying to contain an upset expression of sass. She couldn't help but melt into his affection when he obtained the side of her chin in his moist mouth. "…Jazmine…?" he called her in a whisper, silently begging for her to accept his apology.

They should call him the Intellectual Terrorist of Pretenders.

She giggled when she could feel the tingly sensation of his breath against her neck, feeling Huey's lips forming into a smile. She wrapped her arms around his afro, and snuggled her face down into the side of his head, laughing inwardly. "Yes…I falsely accept your false apology, Huey Freeman…"

They stayed silent in each other's embrace until Jazmine's giggle interrupted it.

"…We're pretty crazy, huh…?" she asked him in his ear, feeling whole inside with him in her arms.

She blushed when she felt the rumble in his chest as he chuckled, his lips trailing down her collarbone again.

"Theoretically…you're crazy, not me. You're the delusional one crazed by affection." He held her sides as he kissed her chest gently, earning her rasping signal of gratify. "…You truly are beautiful…you know." He whispered muffled between her bosom in a relaxed smile. "…but it wouldn't kill you to take a shower once and awhile, too…" Huey suddenly shot his head up when he felt her fingers seizing the fabric of his white towel. His hand grasped around her wrist tightly. "…Jazmine…!" he warned.

"Then don't tease me anymore, or the towel goes mister-I-can-tease-anyone-because-I'm-so-tall-dark-and-handsome-with-a-cute-afro!" she said in a babyish tone.

Huey smirked at her and stood up, but not before planting a sealed kiss on her soft lips. "…It's already twelve-thirty, I better get busy." He whispered into her ear and soon headed for the bedroom to change.

A goofy half-smile spread across her face. She giggled to herself and fell over on her back against the couch with her eyes on the ceiling like a lovesick teenaged girl getting her first kiss from her first love. First kiss…hm…every kiss of his felt like their first.

She could even recall their first kiss, when he gave her permission to finally show her feelings before she moved away and they were only thirteen. He didn't necessarily kiss back, but she didn't care. Her lips were on the untouched lips of Huey Freeman. Wasn't that dreamy enough? And then she said she loved him. From the day she saw him move in across the street and she introduced herself, she loved him she said. They were only thirteen, they didn't know love. So he told her that when she discovered why she loved him he just might take 'that' chance to accept her feelings towards him. A rare offer he'd ever give any being. She prayed every night before and after that, _"If Huey were mine…I wouldn't have or want to go to heaven anymore…"_ …because heaven was already there.

Jazmine put a hand over her face, staring up at the ceiling again between her slim fingers. Her hand moved up her forehead and through her frizzy curled hair. She began to silently sing a song to herself, only loud enough for her to hear, "…_You're ruling the way that I move… and I breathe your air…you only can rescue me…this is my prayer…if you were mine…if you were mine…I wouldn't want to go… to heaven…you show me how deep love can be…and I breathe your air_…"

1:00pm-----------

The protagonist, Intellectual Afro-American Terrorist of highly ruthless criticisms against the United States. Didn't the name say it all? It was obvious that Huey Freeman never took a single detail of importance lightly. But he never imagined how difficult keeping that reputation in tact could be.

Under the orange dim light of the desk lamp in the one o'clock heat, Huey sat at the glass desk tabl_e of his office, slouched over his intent work. His eyes fell slanted as he abruptly paused. '…Dammit...'_ His eyebrow twitched upwards for a split second, indicating that he was ready to lose it. The lead of his pencil scribbled through the lined paper back and forth rapidly, tearing away at its thin material. Huey dug his face into the paper with a sweaty hand on his hot forehead, staring at the content in mocking sarcasm. He mentally read over all the notes so far:

**1) Propose to her in a crossword puzzle**

3) Give her three roses: one represents the past, one represents the present, and the last one (with the ring tied to it) represents the future.

4) Propose with all the school listening. Get permission from the school principal. Record a videotaped proposal and play it over the school video system, or make an announcement over the intercom. Then bring her to the classroom and give her the ring with everyone cheering.

5) Post aid in the newspaper

6) Get two dozen roses, make a trail of them to the bedroom. At the doorway, hang one of them with a ring around it and a note saying, "I Love You - Will You Marry Me?"

7) Attach ring to the line of a fishing rod

****

He took the piece of paper and balled it between his hands, tossing it carelessly at the trash can and missing by an inch, causing it fall into the pile of other discarded paper full of plagiarized ideas.

None of those ideas were his, just tips given from his proposal book. He wasn't a very romantic person, so he figured his own ideas would be pointless, and nothing she would like.

He continued to stare at the white paper with blue lines rowed across it, his mind broiling with troubled thoughts as he crossed his arms. For a full ten minutes he stared at that paper as if to be in a staring contest he couldn't afford to lose. Technically he was winning. But if there had been an observer wandering the house, they would've mistaken him for trying to tap into his supernatural abilities to melt or burn the paper away with his superman laser vision. Finally Huey gave it up and sighed, running his fingers frantically through his afro to clear his head.

"…This is pointless…" he grumbled with the end of the pencil in his mouth.

A woozy groan escaped him. His fingers reached for his blue shirt (his usual button-up wear just in case he needed to loosen it on hot summer days) and carefully undid every button to let his already sweaty chest breathe in fresh air. He wiped his glistening forehead, flicking off trickles of sweat.

It just seemed to get hotter during the afternoon.

"TA-DAAA!" a loud voice squealed from the distance.

The pencil instantly fell out of Huey's mouth as his eyes became wider in alarm. Steadily his head twisted around, his ruby orb staring in the corner of his eye, which automatically dilated when he saw the stranger standing in the doorway.

He was right; she lied.

Jazmine stood in the doorframe of his office, her frizzy orange hair tied up in a messy high bun with curly strands falling over her face and his reading glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. What really struck him shocked was that she had thrown on his black tie and long white button-up work shirt, the outfit he usually wore to his classes to be presented as the Professor of the University College. A pair of black panties to match the tie was all that covered her lower-half.

Quickly Huey directed his attention back to his desk in a slumped over position, trying to button his shirt back up before temptation reached her core, but it was already too late for hiding.

"Is class in session yet?" she giggled in a catty smile, her arms wrapped securely around his neck as she leaned her body against his back.

"Jazmine, I thought I told you I was busy…didn't you see the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the doorknob?" Huey murmured with his eyes still narrowed scornfully on his blank piece of paper, desiring to write something down more than anything else.

"You mean this one?" she dangled the small handle sign before him.

"Yes, that one." He closed his eyes in annoyance.

"Okay, I'll hang it back up so nobody will disturb us! We're testing after all, right?" she chimed happily.

Huey's cheeks turned rosy pink when she snuggled her cheek up against his, cuddling him like a loving kitten with her eyes lifted closed upwards in joy as his head continued to tilt to the side in a frequent motion with every rub.

"C'mon, Professor Huey, teach me something!" she purred, licking at his ear in her kitten phase.

"Please, Jazmine I really have to work!" Huey's voice rose.

The anger in his tone didn't intimidate her one bit. Jazmine just giggled and rested her chin in his shoulder. "What is it that you're working on anyway? You still haven't told me yet…" her eyes focused on his paper, seeing blankness. "It doesn't seem like you've done anything yeeeet."

"That's because I'm tired at the moment…and thinking."

"Then can I refresh your mind before you get started?" she whispered into his ear seductively, if you count an awkward giggle at the end seductive.

"Not until tonight…" he demanded as her hands slid down his wet chest and beneath his shirt, undoing the last buttons. "You promised you'd be good…and not disrupt me when I'm concentrating. What happened to that deal, huh?"

"Because, it just came to me that we won't be able to do anything tonight." She told him, muffled between her lips on his neck in a small moan to taste him. "…Riley will be here before dinner…so we can't possibly…" her bare leg rose up against his side.

Huey struggled to ignore her when her lips trailed damp kisses down the side of his face. "…I don't care…" he groaned when he felt her linger on the weak point of his nape. "…We can't…" Secretly he desired to.

****

"Then what did you have in mind to do?" Huey looked up at her in a raised eyebrow as she smiled down on him.

Jazmine sealed a passionate but upside down kiss over his lips. She gazed into the content of his burgundy eyes and smiled. Her fingers combed through his nappy afro. "…Wanna fool around…?" if there was a way she could say that without laughing, she wished she could.

Huey frowned up at her. "Be serious…"

Quickly she spun his chair around to where he was now facing her and straddled out over him in his seat. "I am being serious…" she wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled her face into his nape. "...We have the house all to ourselves…we don't get this chance too often." She gave him those adorable puppy eyes. "…Please, Huey…?" she traced wet circles of warm sweat in his torso, gradually pulling the unwanted garment over his shoulders to reveal their glistening caramel biceps. "…I want to love you at least now…"

**** ****

/**You threw me back when you smiled/  
**  
His finger brushed away a loose strand that distracted the beauty over her fruit-colored eyes. "…No love making…I still have some places to go if I want to make it home for dinner in time."

Jazmine blinked, suddenly blushing again in a surprised gasp when he leant forward to snatch the delicate skin of her neck between his massaging lips.

"But I think I'll be able to squeeze some time into my schedule today for you…," whispered Huey. "…You're lucky I'm doing this." His arms held her tightly, pressing her body to him robustly.

Jazmine smiled at the tingly sensation of his mouth on her skin, encouraging him with her hand gripping onto the back of his neck.

**_/And when we're alone  
I know we're in love  
Cuz I can't get enough cuz I like/  
_**  
"Huey?"

"Hm?" he drew his head back from her throat and looked up at her in confused eyes, just to be ambushed by her fierce kiss, passionately reeling through for expedition.

**_/I like the way  
You kiss me when we're playing the kissing game/  
_**  
Their kiss slipped away at the smack of the lips, both smiling as Jazmine thrust her mouth onto his between numerous giggles. She always had to find something funny when it came to intimacy.

She wrapped her exposed legs around his thighs, grinding against him with his arms boldly securing her position. Accidentally the chair rolled backwards and left Huey and Jazmine leaning forwards, to where they instantly collapsed onto the floor in a pained thud. Jazmine was the only one it affected, since he fell over her.

"Are you alright?" Huey's hand caressed her temple.

"Y-Yeah…" she smiled through the agony, suddenly laughing after they had a moment of locked eyesight.

Huey couldn't help but chuckle himself, but not into a full laugh. He had never laughed before, not even now.

**_/I like the way  
You keep me looking forward to another day/  
_**  
Jazmine's laughter swerved into moans when he went on bathing her over with his kisses again. He took the time to steal them, deepening their exploratory whenever she obliged. She was left clutching the shoulder of his shirt at the drugging feeling of his mouth over hers.

She never wanted to kiss another, not unless he had the last name of Freeman and the first name of Huey along with the soul attached to them both as well.  
**_  
/We've got it good  
We have it all it seems  
We're living dreams, yeah/_**

Jazmine's legs tangled themselves around him again, keeping a muffled mew against his shoulder when she felt his erect though clothed member probe at her.

**_/This is our time  
Cuz we're commit to be just you and me  
This is the new  
When so young hearts can break in two  
But I know our love  
Will always be there/  
_**  
Huey made his way down her collarbone and to the unbuttoned source of her, or technically, HIS shirt. "…I'm sorry I haven't had time for you lately…" he whispered against her skin. "…but I'm going to change that…" he paused in uneasiness at the exposure of her black brassiere that hugged to her petite breasts underneath her undone blouse.

"…Jazmine…?" he called her with his eyes looking up at her over the small hills of her chest.

She was slightly frustrated at his pauses. "…Hm…?"

"Can I…kiss you here?" he questioned worriedly.

Jazmine's eyebrow twitched, a sarcastic smirk smudged to her face.

Wasn't he just talking about sensuality in a relationship a few hours ago? So how is it he was allowed to break his own laws when she's not?

"Yes, Huey…" her voice a bit annoyed. "…it's alright."

"Are you sure?"

"Huey, it won't hurt me or anything! There's nothing that you can do that could possibly hurt me…just do whatever you want…it doesn't matter…" she kissed upon his forehead.

Huey hesitated, and suddenly motioned to get up. "Maybe we should stop here…" he blinked widely when she jerked him back down by his loose shirt.

"No way José! You walked out on me before, Huey, and that was very ungentlemanly of you…" she latched onto his bottom lip in a teething grip, nibbling, biting, and dragging him back down against her. "…You're not going anywhere until I say…" her intrusive kiss persuaded him without words.

****

"I can't tell you just yet…" he kissed her again, to leave her thirsting for another.

"But, Hu—"

"Shhh…" he kneaded down her lips with his. "…Do you want to do this now or not…?"  
**_  
/I like the way (the way)  
You keep me looking forward to another day, baby/_**

A few throaty whines filled the small office room once Huey carried her body upwards against the surface of the carpet, grinding her back on the rugged material continually.

****

**_/I like the way (I like, I like)  
You kiss me when we're playing the kissing game,  
oh no (I like the way)/  
_**  
No matter how much Jazmine wanted it to continue, she couldn't let it. She purposely bit into his naked shoulder, causing an, "Ow!" to erupt from him.

Huey drew back from her, frowning at her in a small pout. "What was that for?!"

"I thought you said no love making…remember?"

**_/I Like, I like  
Hey, I like the way, I like the way we play  
Hey Hey, Hey/  
_**  
She had her hands grasped around his fingers that had intertwined with the underwear at her thigh. "…You got carried away…" she whispered to him, kissing and licking the bruise she left on his shoulder. "…Sorry I hurt you…"

His lips hovered over her eardrum, "I told you we should've stopped then and there…"

"But I didn't want to stop…" she dragged his hand up her shirt, riding it upwards against her body. "…I liked the way you made me feel…" she groaned to have his rough hand lay on her breast.

****

Huey instantly retracted that hand as if he had been burned at the sound of her satisfaction. "That's enough, Jazmine…" he demanded, departing her legs from around his thighs.

"…Huey…" she whispered his name in a small plea for him not to go just yet. She slipped her fingers between his, kissing them. "…I don't want you to go now…" she gave him a small smile. "Can we… 'fool around' just a little bit longer…?" she said playfully, caressing his face with both hands. She moved her lips over his gently, catching his wandering tongue and holding that action for a long, loving moment, until finally their slobbery lips slipped off. "…This time, we won't have to do anything you don't want to." She nuzzled her face against his, closing her eyes in warmth. "…Stay with me a little bit longer…"

It was spoken of more than once, that at the spell of a specific kiss, his will would be no more.

--- 2:00pm---

The fireplace ledge was decorated by uncountable photo graphs in golden frames; most of the faces were of Huey and Jazmine.

Huey stared at a particular photo of him and Jazmine when they were ten, Jazmine sitting against the tree with a ten year old, negative Huey standing beside her in his gray sweater and purple scarf, both gazing soundlessly out onto the auburn sunset. She had this cute smile on her face that never died when she was around him, no matter how cold-hearted he was to her fragile heart.

Riley had taken that one, just to tease it over his face the afternoon after.

Huey furrowed his eyebrows and leaned over with his maroon irises never letting up on such an image, such an old delicate image of so many years back, when he didn't even know his childhood friend had become his first love. Why didn't he realize he loved her then? When he was ten and maybe their feelings could've evolved earlier and made the fine line thicker to where no pair of life-shattering scissors could ever cut through it.

His face turned troubled with his hand in his coat's pocket, fiddling with a small object in his pocket constantly as he slid his fingers across the image of a ten year old Jazmine. He suddenly jumped back at the sound of his name being called. He looked up to see Jazmine standing a distance away from him with her arms on the side of the wall to support her resting head as she stared at him.

"How come you didn't know I had developed a small crush on you then?" she asked as she too, stared at the same picture walking toward him. "It wasn't very powerful of a crush, but it's the reason I always hung around you." She stood beside him as they both tried to redeem old events that brought them closer each year in their childhood.

"You know how I was back then." Huey broke the dense silence.

"And still are." She added, wrapping her hands around the arm that was stuffed into the pocket with his gift, slightly making him feel uneasy.

'Why did she have to grab that arm…?' his mind rambled nervously, gripping the small black box tighter.

"Remember when I wrote that letter to you?"

For a moment his eyes hadn't lingered, but a certain thought triggered his alertness and drew down to her. "That was you who left that note on my desk in Ms. Kimball's class?" he suddenly frowned on her. "Why are you just now telling me that?"

Jazmine just giggled. "It was just after lunch when we were heading to the next period of middle school, and I was sitting alone in the back of the classroom, but you weren't there yet. I had been thinking about you a lot after what you did for me a few days ago…remember? So I thought about it, and decided what I was feeling. I scribbled it down on a piece of paper and folded it up, holding it to my heart to remember the three words that I was feeling so feverishly inside, just before setting it on your desk."

"Why didn't you sign it?"

"Because…" the light against her eyes danced astoundingly. "…I couldn't let you know it was me. I just was thinking about it a lot, thinking about how I would love to say it to you just to say it…not to hear anything back. 'I love you' were the only three words that had been in my head all morning long. At first I didn't know who the words were for; I just knew that I felt like saying it each time you were beside me. So finally, to free my heart, I gave you the words that had been in my head every time you were near me…anonymously."

Huey just stared at her, his eyelids softening in a beautiful glisten of ruby orbs. "I thought it was just a hoax…something that one of the classmates set up for me."

Jazmine hummed in warmth while her head nuzzled up against his arm even more, sighing, "…I would never hoax you…"

They stayed quiet for a moment, until the shifting of Huey's clothing disrupted the peace.

"I should really get going." He removed himself from her grasp and wandered off to reach the doorknob, but not before looking over at her from behind his shoulder. "I have an appointment with someone in half an hour."

"Will you be back later for dinner?" she stood by the front door as he stood behind its opening, giving her a small smirk.

His beautiful eyes softened on her in a way he would never gaze so love-filled at anyone, any person, any creature or being, but Jazmine Dubois. Now the only thing he longed to change between them was her last name. He'd make her last name his. "…We'll see…" he replied gently.

Jazmine leaned her head on the wood of the door, a gradual smile spreading across her lips the longer they shared wordless confessions of feelings to one another through only the eyes. "…Well…be back soon, Freeman." She began to close the door, but a hand caressing over hers signaled her to wait.

Huey leaned forward and passed the doorframe, planting a kiss on her precious lips.

Jazmine smiled when he whispered quietly to her, "I promise to be back before dinner…"

She stared after him making his way down the apartment hall without turning back. Slowly she began to close the door, sealing the darkness over the thinner crack of light until it finally diminished into the darkened hall.

_(Sorry for any spelling mistakes, but I didn't have a lot of time before school started. People were asking for Huey and Jazmine to at least 'almost do it' or whatever, but I don't want to make anything 'naughty' or 'too detailed' for anyone until the moment's right or rather...un-right, lol. So note that I hold back a lot when it comes to them 'almost doing it.' This ain't the only place this story is up here. BUT REVIEW ANYWAY.)_


	6. Lessons in Session

**_Chapter 6: Lessons in Session_**

A quarter to three.

"He's late…"

The shadows of occupied people hustled through and out of the disoriented stranger's sidewalk path, all trying to either rush or take their sweet time to their purposeless destination. The emanation of workers drilling into concert cement was the loudest vibration of noise over the streets besides the chattering of a restless crowd trying to escape the heat.

Huey's indignant eyes looked up from his golden watch and into the busyness sweeping by before him. He furrowed his dark brown eyebrows. _'Maybe his flight got delayed…' _a merciful thought it was.

It was too hot for so many people to be on the streets. Then again, this was the only place farthest from the Morse coded heat air that was cooled down. Downtown on the far side of Woodcrest wasn't as bad as the central of Woodcrest. But looking around to see the millions of strangers on their skateboards and shorts or tank tops, he felt awkward for wearing the favorite black coat.

The afro-wearing revolutionary wandered through the streets of distressed citizens looking for a nice restaurant's outside table to be seated at. He managed to end his expedition quickly and bought a small smoothie to keep his lone table company for him. Huey took another glance over the crowd impatiently. His lips twitched. Remain calm. He settled himself down and latched his lips onto the end of the white straw, drawing a blue fluid through its plastic tube and into his mouth to be swallowed down his throat. His ruby eyes stayed flattened under his eyelids as he stared into his smoothie, taking out all his frustration of being so impatient out on it. More and more minutes passed and dissolved into the abrupt voices of people.

'Two-twenty-five…' his mind recorded. 'We scheduled to meet at two-twenty-five…and it's'"--a quick glance at his watch. "--three-ten. Just what is he doing?'

"Melissa…"

Huey's eyes glanced over his smoothie as his tongue stopped drawing in its substance, pausing to see the commotion of 'awe'-ing and whispering.

"We've been together for four years, and we've known each other for ten."

Huey's eyes became a lighter shade of interest.

There was a man kneeling down on one knee, holding the hand of a smiling woman whose brown eyes sparked with excitement and love.

"There's no other person in this world I'd rather be with till the end of my days," the man continued, slowly lifting the top of a velvet-covered black box to reveal a large diamond ring that nearly blinded Huey in the sunlight. "Will you marry me?"

The woman held her hand to her lips to resist tears of happiness and in the end was left leaping onto him, screaming, "YES! YES! YES!"

He slipped the ring onto her finger, and after she adored it for a few minutes, they kissed with the influence of clapping tourists and restaurant workers.

Something went off in Huey's eyes just for a split second just before they narrowed negatively and turned away from the couple a few tables in front of him. He grumbled something between the straw and continued to stare away gloomily to let every passing person know just how somber he truly was reputed for.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were depressed you don't have someone to bent down on one knee for yet…" a voice interrupted his self-scolding.

Huey's shocked lips in a parted line just evolved into a small smirk. He closed his eyes, bowing his head down low and taking another sip of his smoothie. "You're late…" he mumbled under the straw, a small smirk forming.

**--- Apartment Residence---3:35pm**

"OUCH!"

Two drops of fluid splattered thick blotches of red on the surface of the kitchen floor's white tile in a loud "pitter-pat."

Jazmine sucked on the wounded thumb to stop the blood from oozing.

She shook it out frantically, trying to wear away the pain. She frustratingly tossed the cooking knife into the sink and switched on the hot water to run over the blood imprinted on its blade.

"That's it…" she growled. "I'm ordering take out!…Or at least a boxed meal!"

Jazmine dumped her cutting board of bell peepers of yellow and green into the wastebasket. She had gotten blood on that too.

Her thumb was held under warm water to decease the risk of infection of the small cut that caused so much blood to trickle through.

The faucet water was quickly cut off and the wandering hand carrying workability and responsibility of two hands reached for the first aid kit. The wounded cooking solider retreated to the couch to set a role of bandages on the coffee table. Carefully without yelping at the pain, Jazmine tied the white strip around her thumb, the white soon turning red.

"…Dammit..." she whispered. "I hate cooking!"

A woman who can't cook isn't a woman at all, or at least that's what the cooking classes quoted for. She couldn't cook to save her starving life, she knew that too well. She wondered what kind of mother she would be to feed her family takeout every time a child whined about being hungry.

Jazmine groaned in irritation and threw her head back against the couch, cracking an unmoved muscle. She just stayed silent in relinquish to let the heat know she was its mulatto slave from here on until summer had ended. Her eyes watched the ceiling fan above the living room, spinning, spinning, spinning until it one day would have spun all the hot air away. She quietly endorsed that dream.

"…Maybe I should ask Huey what he wants for dinner…" she mumbled under dense air.

After leaving a damp mark where she sat, she walked toward the bedroom and slammed it shut.

**_--- Downtown Woodcrest ---- (3:49pm)_**

A darker brown hand, darker than the skin of Huey's, lifted the cappuccino cup and raised it to the lips of its owner with a few soft slurps emitting from the browned lips the color of dark chocolate. Beige orbs came open to stare at the person sitting so solemnly across from him. Ever so often that person sitting so solemnly across from him would be fiddling with something in his lap, rattling a hidden object, eyes furrowing every time the sound emanated from it.

"So?" the person suddenly asked out of the blue.

Huey's eyes drew back to him, widening gradually. "…So…?"

The person just gave him a big smile. "We haven't seen each other for years, since our childhood, and when we finally do, you don't seem too thrilled to see me at all." that big smile turned into a cunning smirk as he leaned over the table with his long dreadlocks falling over his shoulder and a chin on the back of his palm. "So tell me, what's the real reason you flied me all the way out here, Freeman?"

There was an awkward silence between their presences, indicating just how bizarre Huey felt at this moment.

"Caesar, you're married…right?"

"Yep," his eyes lifted closed upwards in exhiliaration. "for almost a year now! Best thing that ever happened to me so far! She's great, really, we--"

"How did you propose?" Huey got right down to the point almost aggressively.

Caesar's joyful ranting stopped as he just gave Huey an awkward look. The look eased up lightly. "Alright, Huey, who's the lucky gal?" now laughing, he took another sip of his cappuccino.

Huey urged himself to say it, fidgeting in his seat like an uncomfortable six year old.

Caesar had known her too, the little bi-racial girl often confused on where she belonged between the two races but somehow managed to find comfort and attachment to Huey's coldness. He was the first person who knew, one of their main supporters.

He began to fondle with the small object in his hands once more, but never dared to open it. His lips became dry, so he licked him wetly. "…Ja…Jazmine…" he whispered.

Caesar's eyes bulged and in less than a second he was spitting up cappuccino from his cup. He stared at Huey with his chin dripping in warmish chocolate. "J-Jazmine?! You two got hooked?!"

Huey glared at him. "No, that's why I'm asking YOU for advice…"

Caesar just stared at him in complete awe, ignoring Huey's statement. "Wow…you and Jazmine, huh?" he leaned back in his chair and sighed. "…Yeah…" he said after a second. "…I can see that. You two had sex at the funeral, right?" he told him between an amused laugh. "…How unholy, and it was in a church too."--Riley had been diagnosed in him.

"Made love. We made love…" Huey corrected defensively.

"Sex, made love…same thing. Either way it sounds, it's still dirty. The more mature term is 'sex,' Huey. It's not inappropriate, it's the same concept." Caesar gave him a sheepish smile when he saw Huey staring into his smoothie in an almost embarrassed but angry expression. "Are you that bashful to say it?"

Huey closed his eyes in somewhat frustration. "'Made love' sounds better."

His friend cocked his head in a bit of dull confusion. "Well that's a bit immature for someone like you…"

"There's nothing immature about that. I was and always have been more 'grown up' than any of you."

"Hmmm, not THAT grown up," Caesar smirked at him from across the table. "You said 'made love' and not 'sex' because you're uncomfortable with saying it. We're adults for Christ's sake, 'made love' is something inexperienced children or people say when they're uncomfortable with saying 'sex' half the time. You may be mature, but not that much of a MAN just yet." Caesar joked. "If you're that embarrassed to say it, you guys must've not been gettin' any lately, have you? How often has it been? Three times a day should do it."

"Why are YOU so curious about my sex life?"

"Oh you know me, just curious Ol' Caesar. Gotta catch up on his best friend's life, right?" he chuckled.

"Who told you anyway, Caesar?!" Huey raised a skeptical eyebrow as he referred to the funeral, waiting for the answer, 'Riley.'

Caesar tossed his head from side to side, braids flying in the opposite direction at each toss. "No one told me. I was sitting in the furthest back of the funeral. I heard you two. You two were pretty loud with the thuds and moans, even with the choir singing."

"Peeping Tom…" his friend murmured.

"Actually, that was Riley."

"So then why did you seem so shocked that Jazmine and I 'hooked up' when I told you?"

The man before him shrugged. "Does the black term 'bootycall' mean anything to you?"

Huey sneered at him. "I would never use Jazmine like that for one…"

"Mm-hm," Caesar slurped up his frothy coffee. "I'm sure…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Caesar raised a reassuring hand. "Nothing, nothing at all! I just never understood why she ever had a crush on you to begin with. You were always so crude to her no matter what she did, you know? And she was too young to understand that overall you actually did care about her, and so were you. There were times when I really didn't know if you thought of her as anything but a tag-along acquaintance. She loved you nevertheless. She has a big heart to let someone like you in like that. No offense or anything."

Huey's hands seemed to tighten on the cup of his smoothie that had already gotten warm. "Sometimes I wish I could rewrite all that; how I treated her at times to where it had gotten worse…neglecting her feelings for so long, even when I already knew…and maybe even had realized then--"

"You ever see the movie 'Butterfly Effect'?" Caesar suddenly interrupted.

Huey glanced up at him. "…What…?"

"We all wish to change things that happened in the past, like how we acted or treated other people, or rather how we were treated, but if we change the past, all this…this beauty and life it turned out to be, would never be how it is now."

"And just what does that have to do with me and Jazmine…?"

"Dunno, I just read it in an article this morning on the movie reviews." Caesar smirked.

Huey slumped over. "I prefer Matrix than the 'Butterfly Effect.' We weren't beaten or video taped by an alcoholic and abusive father or provoked by false dreams to alter the past and create a better future, entirely changing the way of life itself. I wasn't going THAT deep."

"Did you ever hear about that by the way? How the creators of 'the Matrix' stole the entire story from Sophia Stewart?" Caesar jumped to an entirely new subject.

"Originally called, 'The Third Eye.' It's a shame too; I liked Morpheus in the Matrix theft movie."

Caesar threw his head back to stare up at the cloudless sky above them. "People are just too ignorant to realize that black people have some common sense too."

"Ninety-eight percent of those people are white…"

"…I bet you Neo was originally supposed to be black."

"No doubt in mind. A black woman wouldn't seriously give the title of 'the one' and the most dominant power over both worlds to the White Man, would she? They've ruled that power for centuries…"

Everything stayed quiet.

A loud laugh was heard at their table.

Huey stared at his friend in utter confusion. After his laugh evaporated into small chuckles, Huey managed to ask him, "Why are you laughing?"

Caesar's grin hiding his laughter never wore away. "You haven't changed one bit…"

Huey raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"…Alright, there's only one minor detail that's changed; you're not as angry anymore. I'm almost grateful Jazmine came along. She took a load off that hot-steamed head of yours so angry at the world today. I guess she's the reason why you never fulfilled the dream of making a resolution for revolution, huh? Is that why you left it…?"

"I left it behind because I sacrificed a lot to get out of this place for good…too much." Huey told him in a hint of sudden anger, but eventually his eyes uncovered a lighter expression. "I didn't really think I'd ever come back, and I severely wasn't ever planning to."

"But you're here now." Caesar added.

"Because of Jazmine…" he corrected.

"What I'm truly surprised about is how you weren't sympathetic at Granddad's funeral, though." Caesar finished his cappuccino.

Huey's eased eyes turned into a frown. "What are you talking about? He was my Grandfather, that would be completely..."

"…Huey." Caesar finished his sentence for him. "You didn't come back for Granddad's funeral; you came back because you knew Jazmine would be there too. You were awfully cold to her the entire day, but that wasn't anything new."

Huey's eyes went wide when a fact hit him hard and good. "Wait a minute…I don't remember seeing you there in the first place!"

Caesar just smiled. "I know."

Huey frowned at him from across the table, his fist tightening a little.

"So, did she get pregnant…?"

"No." a plain response.

"I never saw you as the type to bring condoms to a funeral."

"I didn't. Riley did."

Caesar just chuckled again.

For some reason they had nothing to talk about after that. Caesar just stared at him in a thin smile, waiting for an old friend to ask another old friend 'the favor' he came here for. "Well…? You want some tips on how to make it memorable right? To make it the second best day of your life before the wedding?"--Funny, because it just dawned on them both that Huey wasn't the type of person you'd see in a wedding ceremony. That would truly be a day to remember.

Caesar stood up before Huey could speak and began brushing his lap to discard unwanted crumbs from the beagle he had eaten earlier. "You don't want it to be like any other common thing, right? Then let's get started!" he reached for Huey's arm, yanking him up and diving for the crowd.

"W-Wait! I thought it was just gonna be a few pointers or tips on how to propose! Not a detour!"

"You're kidding right?" Caesar glanced back at him with a big smile endlessly plastered on his face as he continued to drag him along. "C'mon, Denise is waiting!"

"DENISE?"

_**Apartment Residence (4:00pm) ----------  
**_  
"LUCY I'M HOOOMMME!!"

A bunch of bags were thrown across the kitchen counter as uncountable cans tumbled over and clattered violently when they hit the floor.

Riley left the mess carelessly and stared at the dusty dinning table. An eyebrow rose. "…Guess dinner gon' be late ta' night…" he shrugged it off and headed for TV entertainment.

He leaped onto the couch, skillfully snatching up the remote during the dive. Riley hugged a pillow to his chest as he flipped through music videos on the big screen. His eyes brightened to see an old hit from his childhood, _'Booty-Butt-Cheeks.'_ A grin spread widely across his face as he bobbed his head along with the rocking 'booty-butt-cheeks' of the three women. "…Yeeeaah…" He never saw the whole music video. Granddad would turn from it when it got too graphical for both Huey and Riley_. 'I bet chu even Huey got a little fun outta watching this…'_

"Riley!!!"

He flinched to hear his name being yelled as he gripped the pillow to see an angry Jazmine before him.

She walked in front of the TV with her hands on her hips. "Remote, now!" she held her hand out demandingly.

Riley just glared up at her and smacked his lips. "Why you always gotta ruin a nigga's fun, gurl, damn?" He tossed her the remote ruthlessly to leave her struggling to grasp it and the screen was immediately shut down.

The Freeman brother's narrowed eyes followed her through the kitchen, just to plug his ears with finger tips to hear her scolding at him for leaving the mess of canned food and beer on the floor. To avoid one of those cans being chucked at his head, he staggeringly got up and did as told.

"Yes, big mama…" he muttered under his breath as he passed her, tossing the cans back up on the counter.

A few cans later, "Aye!" his fingers snapped. "I forgot ta' tell you! Huey called me earlier today… he ain't gon' make it fo' dinner." He set up the last can on the kitchen table.

Jazmine stood on her tiptoes to level her height with the fridge's freezer. She gave a disappointed, "Oh," and recovered herself to ask him, "Why didn't he call me instead of you then?"

Riley leaned against the table as he watched her. "He couldn't get through the lines for some reason, and I was closer to the area."

Jazmine's hand explored through a box of popsicles through the freezer, winching at the coldness she mentally bashed herself to cherish.

Jade-colored eyes gazed at her the entire time, never blinking or glancing away for even a short second.

Riley bit into an apple to contain himself through the grip as his eyes ran her up and down. His eyes willingly surveyed her body from head to toe when she still had her back turned to him. Small short-shorts to reveal her long smooth legs, hugging to her small bottom, a buttoned shirt with rolled up sleeves, and curly hair tied up in a high but sloppy bun. He mentally complimented her figure with thoughts better left censored, some even breathless thoughts. One thing he had to admit though was that he had never seen anything like her. Fairly slender, but simply decent at the same time and not trashy. At this point, all he wanted to do was reach out and touch her, run his fingers along a thigh if he could to get a feel of a pure Goddess, but he had better dignity than that. She wasn't his to touch. She was his brother's.

After a shake of the head to throw away such images, Riley sat back down on a couch in a 'ah' and threw his head back to close his eyes and listen to soundlessness with his legs spread out. He sighed.

"…Y'all planning to move out of this place soon, right…?" his loud voice broke the ice of silence.

"It would be nice to." He heard her say cheerfully. "But we never discussed it seriously…"

There was another moment of quietness between the two. It was often this way when they left alone together in the house; dense or quiet. Usually until he finally told her he was going to be out in the streets somewhere and then come home for food like a stray dog, and then she'd be all alone until Huey came back. Her work hours were shorter than Huey's anyhow.

Jazmine looked inside the bag of groceries Riley brought.

"Lollipops. . ." she muttered, tossing them aside. "Beer, gunpowder..."

She paused as her hands rested upon a packet of contraceptives before sweat dropping and throwing it deep into the bag, face flushed. "Men." she murmured, shoving the bags away ruthlessly.

"Hey, Riley?"

His eyes finally came open to her.

"…You wouldn't mind having takeout for dinner, would you?" She closed the fridge door, and turned to him with an orange and yellow Popsicle suckled in her mouth.

He stared at her in widened eyes and the Popsicle unblinkingly when she came around the kitchen counter. He watched her in a trance as she continued to suck the living daylight out of the Popsicle, lips now orange as she continued to thrust it in and out of her mouth at a steady and then quickened pace. The corner of Riley's lips twitched. He could imagine himself in place of that damn Popsicle.

The bottom of her shirt was tied in a thick knot above her belly. Sweat clung to her swiss-cream skin, making her the reality version of one of those oiled-down girls he saw in music videos usually caused by digital effects.

The image of touching her drifted along back to his mind. Just one touch, maybe even a squeeze. He could feel his body tensing.

He watched her; fully intrigued by the way she consumed and licked the board tip of her Popsicle.

His fist tightened.

Damn it, he felt like having a long, cold shower. Turn the water on full blast.

Jazmine cocked her head, eyebrows furrowed. "What? Why are you looking at me like I'm some alien from outer space?" she asked, completely oblivious of what fantasies she was bringing him.

His lips twitched again. He regained himself and looked away, ignoring his dangerous urges. "…Nuthin'…" he told her roughly, his cheeks pink as he closed his legs to hide the aroused and enormous bulk. She wouldn't notice hopefully. He pitied and envied Huey for this.

His eyes drew back to her quickly when he heard the couch squeak at the weight of her sitting down.

"Want one?" she asked, still suckling on her Popsicle.

_'Right now on this very couch…? Hell yeah…'_ his mind desired to ask her. "Nah, I'm coo'…" he looked away from her again and kept his hands in his pockets.

"…I hate summer…" she growled in anger, untying the bottom of her shirt to let it fall out (technically being Huey's work shirt) and loosened a few more buttons, just enough for Riley to find a glimpse of that black brassiere which she hadn't been aware of. She unraveled her bushy, tightly curled hair and groaned loudly at the heat, sending him severe chills to tense even more.

Urgh, he was starting it again. He had to get as far away from this woman as possible, or else there was no telling what he'd do to her in the next minute. Shit, he might even rape her if---

"You sure you don't want one?" she gave him a concerned glance. "You look pretty boiling yourself…and this apartment is like being a frying pan."

"I'm fine." He growled in a mumble. Curse him for being a man always hungered for women. But Jazmine, even to him, wasn't just 'any woman.'

What was wrong with him today? _'Must be the god damn heat…'_

Jazmine threw away the stick of the Popsicle and stayed by his side, bored out of her mind. She was reduced to staring at her quiet comrade. He just sat there, the profile of his face facing toward her with dark green eyes staring into the carpet in an almost somber expression. She imagined a former eight-year old Riley in his place.

He had always had that boyish charm when he was eight, not so much delightful, but an odd charm to him. He still had it. If he looked any younger, or handsomer at that, he could be mistaken as eighteen. He often was most of the time, anyhow.

Riley felt her eyes softening on his presence.

"What?!" he quickly snapped, causing her to jerk back in shock.

"N-Nothing!!" she covered, slightly cringing.

Riley's angry eyes hadn't left her, but sooner than later lightened up as he stared at her in apprehension. He snarled and turned his head away in angriness, sighing before he leaned his back into the couch.

"Sorry."

Jazmine blinked.

"For snapping at you, I mean." He added with his voice soft but hard all in one. "There's just been a lot on ma' mind…dat's all."

"Like what?" she scooted closer beside him, leaning into his side with her hands on her knees, very happy to start a conversation.

Riley's brown iris darted to the corner of his eye to see her eager expression. It narrowed unpleasantly. "Stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" she leaned in closer.

He scooted further away and turned his attention from her. "You know, just stuff! Street-life stuff…"

Jazmine scooted even closer, which made him feel even more uncomfortable. This was the first time a woman had ever agitated him, Woodcrest's biggest 'player.' "…Street-life stuff as in…?" she waited for him to complete the sentence.

Riley only shrugged. "I did sumthin', sumthin' that'll cost me a lot. I'll be takin' one of ma' own bullets to the heart for it if it catches up wit me."

It took a minute for Jazmine to gain confidence to hide her sorrow from his view. "…Is…the guy who vandalized your apartment after you?" the light against her eyes shuddered in watery emerald. "…He's not going to actually hurt you is he?"

"Naw…" he shook his head, still never making eyesight with her. "Just a few of his boys. I can't let dat nigga find me out, so y'all might not be seeing me fo' awhile just in case I gotta flee this hellhole."

"…Oh…" Jazmine looked down in her lap, as if wanting to say something else to him, something more than simple questions.

She had become clingier to his safety after since he got shot right in front of her eyes.

She clenched her fist in a tight grip in a winch of pain.

The horrifying image was something she never wanted to remember. A bat sure couldn't batter it out of her head.

"I don't want you to go," she choked out, still in the daydream of the blood-filled flashback. "But if it means you'll be okay…I guess that's best."

Riley just blinked in bewilderment. His nose wrinkled up in a small sneer. Why was she so worried about him anyway? A small 'psh' slipped between his teeth as he turned away. "Yea' well…I might not. I don't know, I just gotta see how things flow. I'm on everybody's wanted list in these streets. I thought livin' like dis would be pretty coo', you know, women, guns, power...but it turn to shit when you gotta live yo' life runnin' from thugs all around the globe. So much fo' tryna pimp the universe." He voice turned wretched as he sunk in his seat.

Jazmine continued to stare into her lap with her head hung. Her heart was just as fragile as it was kind. Ever since their childhood, both Freeman brothers had been a big part of her life. They both meant something to her equally, but in two totally different ways.

Riley's body jumped lightly to feel her sliding across the couch further next to him, to where her slender knee touched against the knee of his baggy pants.

"You promised me not to get shot…remember?" she brought up out of the blue.

Riley's protruded pupils stared at her, blinking. He automatically turned away when she looked up at him. "…Yea'…well, that's something I can't guarantee."

A small but hesitant smirk filled her face, before a comforted, 'hmph' ended her doubt. She closed her eyes and smiled serenely, with her head slightly tilted against his shoulder. "…Then, can you at least try…?"

She couldn't see it, well, no one really could, but there was a same coloration of red tainted in the skin of his cheeks. He couldn't say anything else. The feeling of sexual urge had been replaced with something fuzzy and warm. _'Damn her…_' his mind cursed as his eyes slanted into the distance. The slow warm feeling was even more annoying than the sexual urge one.

"So what else has been on your mind besides that…?"

It took him some time to answer that question, as if it was too personal, which darkened the air again. His lips parted to speak when he went back to staring up at the ceiling. "…Little things…but not much." His voice was low. It was too risky to tell her what had been on his mind lately ever since the night he had been drunk, even though he didn't remember any of it. But that feeling came back when she was in the same room with him.

It was time for the conversation to end before she hit his edgy spot. She rose up and retrieved the phone all the way across the room. "So what'll it be, Freeman. Chinese or Mexican? Or how about soul food." She began dialing the number to some random restaurant.

"Yo', befo' we even jump to that," he held his hands up to gesture her to pause. "You still caught up on dat sex problem wit you and Huey?"

"There isn't a problem." She turned darkly defensive all of the sudden.

"If I recall it correctly, you was complainin' about walkin' in on him in the shower. See, what you got to understand is that couples don't COMPLAIN about seeing their lover in the shower, that's a welcoming committee to them, as in get they freak-on under water. If you scared to see HUEY completely naked wit out pants on, then you got a problem!" he pointed a finger at her.

"And just what do you know about relationships? The longest you've ever been with a woman was for three weeks…"

Riley faced away and crossed his arms, eyes narrowed as they scanned over to her. "Yea' but it also mean I have EXPERIENCE. I know aaall about women and a nigga's feelings when it comes to relationships. Y'all just don't know the first 'ding about love."

"Oh and like you do!?" Jazmine leaned herself against the table, feeling insulted by his comment. "You've never been in love before in the first place! So how could you possibly--"

"I have too, aiight?!" His voice towered hers when his fierce eyes viciously locked on hers.

They stayed in eye contact until Riley stubbornly looked away.

"…I'm not a heartless thug, a nigga can love too! Y'all ain't the only people who have feelings in this town! I been in love befo'…a thug got feelin's too…" his voice went a little shy on the last sentence.

Jazmine's arms linked across her chest as she gave him a 'yeah right' expression. "Alright Freeman, then name the girl you've been in love with "befo'" if that's the case!"

Riley's eyelids lifted to reveal the small sunshine light gleaming so passionately against his light brown orbs of swirling honey. After a sharp breath, "…It was just…just some gurl, aiight? A gurl I knew for a long, long time…that's all."

Jazmine's heart caught on hold before she could breathe another word. Her green orbs quaked in her hollow sockets. She didn't dare say anything else.

"She once stayed by my side all night when I was stabbed and wounded, too…she even made me soup to help my fever when Huey and Granddad weren't around…" the radiant gold light that danced against his black pupils seemed to brighten and shudder with every word, nevertheless keeping a straight face. "I liked her at first…I mean, I didn't show it or nuthin', but…I liked her. Then she kissed me, and my world suddenly turned right side up in the first time of ma' life. I don't know if it was real or not…but I know it felt good…real, real good. No other gurl ever made me feel like there was sumthin' beyond guns and gang-life. Didn't really care if it was love or not…I just knew it was there, and I felt it good and hard--Aye, you ever felt dat way before?"

Jazmine jumped when those eyes of light gazed up at her. She gulped down a held breath, accidentally choking, and shook her head frantically.

Riley's eyes narrowed even more. "Didn't think someone like me could actually 'feel' huh…?"

"N-No, I knew you could feel! You're not emotionless! I just…" her attention wandered down and into the carpet floor, fingers linking. She just couldn't seem to finish her sentence. Jazmine chewed on her lip and shut her eyes tightly, face flushed, and spun around to face the table again. "Anyway, wh-wh-what do you want? C'mon, I'm not having dinner late again!" she pretended to sound frustrated, but secretively felt flustered and embarrassed as she held the phone in her unbalanced hand. There was just know way…no way on earth, heaven or hell.

Riley just stared into her back long and hard.

"No."

She nearly gasped when she felt a strong hand clutch her waist and fiddle with the rags of the untucked shirt. Jazmine stood still without breathing as Riley leaned over her shoulder, looking into the phone. She could feel his breath on her, so warm and yet cold against her skin, grasping something within her, and his heart pumping wildly against her back.

"I don't want takeout…there's something else I'd like to have." He whispered into her ear, purposely making sure she felt the chills run up her spine. His hand lowered the cordless phone down onto the table gradually. He smiled lightly when he knew she had been driven to the breaking point of mixed emotions, and switched back to respecting her personal boundaries.

"T-Then what do you want?" slowly her head rotated around to see him just in the corner of her eye.

She could see him gazing upon her, his eyes never soft or bleak. He looked like he longed to say something, something that would cost him too much to say aloud.

Riley about-faced and began walking toward the door with his hands in his pockets and chin held high in devilish grin. "Let's go GET sumthin' ta' eat, and then I'ma teach you a few things about sensuality, a'ight? Cuz right now, all this, this right here, AIN'T WORKIN'. It seems like as long as you're being seduced, you'd unknowingly let any man who knows exactly 'how' to seduce your feelings like Huey, in."

Jazmine cocked her head, dumbfounded. "…Huh…? Wait! That's not true!" She squeaked when his rough hand suddenly lunged out and grabbed her wrist.

"C'mon, we need ta' get outta this house anyway, it's too hot to be sittin' 'round talkin.' So let's go, you and me." he had this ridiculous grin smudged on his face.

"B-But w-wait!!" she jerked back. "I can't go out looking like this!"

Riley looked her up and down, and then smiled cunningly at her. "Cuz niggas gon' mistake you fo' a skinny HOE."

Jazmine bashed him in the head and made her way to the bedroom.

"SSSSHHHHIT!!!" he hissed as he held his head with a swollen bump forming. "SON OF A BITCH! AAHHH FUCK THAT HURT!! WHY YOU GOTTA HIT SO HARD, WOMAN, DAMN!"

She came out wearing a pair of jeans and the same white top, but buttoned up all the way and tucked in her pants. Her hair was held back by a yellow headband to reveal that nice shinny forehead of hers for the first time since teen years. "Oh stop complaining and let's go! I'm hungry! And I want to get back as soon as possible before Huey comes back home!" she stopped in her tracks when Riley hadn't moved for the door at all yet. "Well?" she put her hands on her hips.

Riley opened the door for her and cleared his throat, bowing. "Laaaddies first!"

Jazmine raised an eyebrow at him before tossing her head and walking out the door with Riley's eyes following. "Hmph, sensuality tips, just who does he think he is telling a woman I need sensuality tips, that's just rude." She babbled to herself when she made her way out.

He smiled after her and closed the door behind him after glancing over the apartment, a glimpse of his grin turning furtive. "…He wouldn't mind…" he whispered under his breath to hint a betrayal concept.

----

I despiiiise myself for making Riley get urges for skinny little Jazmine. /cough/


End file.
